Re: the sound [a]

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.


-- Mark