Re: Kyrgyz was Re: Zetowvu / Ezotwuv (new conlang)

On Wednesday 26 February 2003 12:30 am, Roger Mills wrote:
> Peter Clark wrote:
> >         From what I can make of it, Kyrgyz has the following vowels:
> > i y  1   u
> >  e 2    o
> >   E
> >    &
> >     a
>
> Just out of curiosity, is "& " for the low front unround vowel (æ, a-e
> lig.) or the X-SAMPA low front _round_ vowel??
        Sorry, it's ash. Probably should have made it clear that I was using C-SAMPA.
;>

> Does Kyrgyz have vowel harmony? In that case it closely resembles Turkish,
> but with anomalous E &(whatever its quality):
        According to this site (http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/profiles/profk05.htm), it
does. However, it says that it has nine vowels (plus length), rather than the
ten I counted in my Kyrgyz dictionary. However, looking at it again, I am
guessing that either /e/ or /E/ are questionable:

Ее [e] elf, [ie] yes
Ээ [e] fed

> (Even better, Yitzik tell us that "y" should be not /1/ but /M/-- unrounded
> high-back-- nice counterpart to /u/ in a harmony-system.)
        Actually, Yitzik, if you are still reading this, were you refering to
<russian>y</russian> or <roman>y</roman>? If you were refering to
<russian>y</russian>, then I can easily see that being /M/. Or are you saying
that it has both /M/ and /u/?
        Revised proposal: perhaps Kyrgyz has the following vowel system:

i y  1  u
e 2    o
&      a (A?)

Well, as I mentioned to Yitzik in a private email, my Kyrgyz-speaking friend
is coming in April, so I will be sure to pepper her with questions. Now
accepting suggestions!
        :Peter

--
Oh what a tangled web they weave who try a new word to conceive!

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