Re: USAGE: syllables

--- Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...> wrote:
> Alexandre Lang wrote:
> > Is there any phonetical difference between [.] and
> [#] though, besides
> > length?
>
> Depends on the language.  In some languages there
> may be no distinction
> at all, while in others there may be phenomena that
> only occur
> word-finally, such as obstruent devoicing in German.
>
> > So a vowel followed by a nasal always becomes
> nasalized?
>
> No.  What I'm saying is that you could have a
> language with a rule that
> says "vowels followed by a nasal in the same
> syllable become nasalized",
> a common, but by no means universal, rule, or
> "vowels with a nasal in
> the same syllable become nasalized", but not "vowels
> preceded by a nasal
> become nasalized"
>
Well...actually, there are languages in which a vowel
followed by a nasal consonant can become nasalized.
Take Sundanese:

http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/appendix/languages/sundanaese/sundanese.html

i hope that link works
if not, i'll just post examples, if anyone is
interested.
Elliott


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!
http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/

Reply