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whoops, another question -- pharyngealized consonants anyone?

From:Danny Wier <dawier@...>
Date:Tuesday, October 5, 1999, 20:04
Okay, now I got another problem, and this I just noticed.  As you probabl=
y=20
already noticed, consonants are palatized and labialized (i-colored and=20
u-colored) next to e/i and o/u respectively.  The remaining three vowels =
in=20
Tech are <a>, <=E4> (=3D schwa, mid central) and <=FC> =3D (=3D IPA i-bar=
, high=20
central).

But in cases of CV > VC metathesis (the most common inflection in the=20
language), CVaC and CV=E4C end up being the same, unless I add a *fourth*=
=20
status of consonants -- pharyngealized!  This would occur only with the=20
vowel <a>.  So, what is transcribed as theoretical _ti=E4t_and _tiat_ wou=
ld be=20
pronounced /tI@t/ and /tIVt_A/ -- but hey, how do you mark pharyngealizat=
ion=20
in ASCII?

Neutral, palatized, labio(velar)ized, and pharyngealized.  Does that occu=
r=20
in any natlangs?  All I know about pharyngealized consonants is that they=
're=20
similar to the so-called 'emphatics' in Arabic (which are marked in IPA w=
ith=20
a tilde strikethrough), or the 'broad' consonants of Irish Gaelic ('slend=
er'=20
being palatized by the way, the equivalent of Russian 'soft' consonants).

My main problem is how you could distinguish /k/, /k/-pharyngealized, /q/=
=20
and /q/-pharyngealized?  I know some Berber languages do this (Kabyle mos=
t=20
likely; I don't think this occurs in Tuareg) -- help someone pleeze?!

Thanks again,

Danny

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