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Re: THEORY: Voiceless vowels [was Re: Missing Parts]

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Saturday, June 29, 2002, 21:26
Marcus Smith wrote:
> Yup. More interesting words are those like _sushi_. The pronunciation of > the vowels in this word is very free: either can be voiceless, both can be > voiceless, or both can be voiced.
Reminds me of when an anime used the term _shichiseishi_ (literally 7-star-warrior; 7 chosen people represented by constellations) pronounced, pretty consistently, as [Si_0tSi_0seishi]. It wasn't until I saw the word in print that I realized what they were saying. :-)
> In my very first phonology class (years ago now), the professor made a > cryptic comment that there is evidence that voicelessness in Japanese > vowels is becoming phonemic. I don't know what this evidence is though.
Interesting. I don't know of any words where the vowels are always voiced or always voiceless, except that the /u/'s in _desu_ and -masu are almost never voiced except "by foreigners, young children, and girls trying to sound cute" as I've heard it explained. :-) So, maybe that is a phonemically voiceless (and sometimes omitted) /u/. -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42