IIRC, there's a Berber dialect (Imdlawn Tashlhiyt) which allows even
unvoiced stops to become a syllable nucleus. I got this information via
Price and Smolensky's "Optimality Theory" [1993], which cites Dell's and
Elmedlaoui's studies on the dialect (published in the second half of the
'80s). From the paper:
_ratkti_ "she will remember" syllabises [ra.tk=.ti]
_bddl_ "exchange" = [bd=.dl=]
_maratgt_ "what will happen to you?" = [ma.ra.tg=t]
etc.
This feature enthralled me... cool language, indeed.
Luca
----- Original Message -----
From: "Danny Wier" <dawier@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2003 1:07 AM
Subject: Tamazight
> I've mentioned, from time to time, the fact that a few minor languages
> around the world really interest me in some way. Usually it's some
phonetic
> feature, since I know MUCH more about phonology than other aspects of
> linguistics. I've talked a lot about Georgian, and Irish Gaelic was one of
> my first major inspirations. Another language I've kinda fallen in love
with
> is Tamazight, or Berber, spoken in Morocco, Algeria, and Spanish territory
> in northwest Africa. It's part of the Berber branch of Afro-Asiatic, and
> probably most closely related to Egyptian.
>
> A sample from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> TIS.ERRIH.T TAGRAGHLANT IZERFAN N WEMDAN
>
> Yesbudan d yesse ran deg wegraw amatu seg use ti-s 217 A. (III) di 10
> dujember 1948
>
> ANAKCHAM
>
> Imi asmussen n lh.werma i ttalasen akkw ya^ggalen n twachult talsawt d
> yizerfan n sen yemsawan, d nitni i d llsas n tlelli, taghdemt akkw d-
tifrat
> deg wmadal (di ddunit).
>
> Imi kra n widn nesmussun ara izerfan n wemdan d widn ih.eqqren s lkhwedm n
> lewh.uch yesserfayen tamsakwit n talsa akkw d- tlilin umadal and'ara
hedren
> u and'ara yamnen yemdanen s tlelli idg ur yelli la aserh.eb la lmizirya, d
> nettat i d asirem a^layan n wemdan.
>
> Imi tebbwi -- dd nnig kra yellan ad ttuh.udden izerfan n wemdan s nnidam
> azerfan i wakkn ur yettuh.errs ara wemdan di taggara alamma yughal d
amnafeg
> d.add temh.eqranit akkw d unaghur.
>
> Imi yessefk ad tennerni tegmi d wassaghen n tmidwa d lemh.ibba gar
> yeghlanen.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> You're probably asking, Where did all the vowels go? Yeah, there are some
> weird consonant groups in that, not to mention those C-with-no-V
enclitics.
> The doubled initial consonants are the result of assimilation. There are
> also "emphatics", pharyngealized consonants, just like in Arabic (some,
like
> /s~/, are only found in Arabic loans like |s.abun| "soap"). Those have
dots
> beneath them in writing. <a> with a circumflex accent is Arabic <ayn>, if
> I'm not mistaken. There are a few digraphs: <ch> is /S/ (as in French),
<kh>
> is /X/, <gh> is /R/, and <gw> and <kw> are of course labialized velars.
Like
> Arabic, there is no /p/ in the language, except maybe in certain dialects
> and loanwords.
>
> In Kabyle, another Berber language, stops can be spirantized, along the
same
> lines as Biblical Hebrew, adding /B/ (or /v/?), /T/, /D/, /x/, /g/, /xw/
and
> /gw/ to the inventory.
>
> This is one of several Romanizations represented here; the language is
also
> written in Arabic script. However, it's best written in the Tifinagh
> alphabet, which uses rather simple geometric shapes. There should be
> increased usage, now that the Internet has helped unite the scattered
Berber