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Re: the sound [a]

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Saturday, May 8, 2004, 10:57
Quoting "Mark P. Line" <mark@...>:

> Andreas Johansson said: > > Quoting "Mark P. Line" <mark@...>: > > > >> Andreas Johansson said: > >> > Quoting Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>: > >> > > >> >> > >> >> The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language lists a language Amuesha > >> >> (Andean-Equatorial family) with a vowel system /e a o/. > >> > > >> > I'd be itching to analyze that as /i a u/. > >> > >> > >> Why? > > > > Because that would be a much less typologically marked set. > > That's what I was afraid of. > > I believe that the received wisdom on what is typologically unmarked (or > less marked) is irretrievably skewed to the point of uselessness because > people have a tendency to, shall we say, *re-analyze* their observations > in terms of what they already think the typologically less marked > realization might be. > > Of *course* /i a u/ will seem less marked if we force ourselves to look > for a way to analyze every 3-vowel system into this scheme.
Well, I do not have access to the typological data to tell if such skewing has been going on. I tend to go with the received wisdom when I am unable to judge for myself. Of course, [i a u] is about the maximally contrastive three-vowel set, which suggests that three-vowel systems should gravitate to it. But since maximization of constrastiveness is another typological observation, I guess you won't accept that either. Andreas