Re: USAGE: syllables

Hello,

> > > In my understanding, the minimum phoneme for a
> > > syllable is a vowel. (Then there's Russian which uses
> > > single consonants as prepositions :)).)
> >
> > A single 'vocalic' would be a better term.  Including
> syllabic consonants.
>
> Except that those consonants are not syllabic at all. Since a
> preposition will
> never appear on its own, it can easily form a close unit with
> the word it
> preceeds (almost making it a prefix). This is ultimately
> proven by the fact
> that in certain cases it breaks the omnipresent law in Slavic
> linguistics that
> final yers always disappear, for example (in Polish):
> _z_ "with" > _ze mnã_ "with me"
> _w_ "in" > _we mnie_ "in(to) me"
Well, they aren't really final, since the _vU_ or _sU_ used to form a
single phonetical entity which the preceding word, and there *was* a
weak yer in the following syllable. So it's all according to the rules:

*_sU mInojo~_ > _ze mna,_
*_vU mInê_ > _we mnie_

all according to Havlik's rule. And anyway the rule is that all final
yers in *polysyllables* fall. In monosyllables we always have strong
yers, as in *_tU_ > to-.

> In other cases, it would be incorrect to pronounce the preposition
> syllabically: _w domu_ "at home" should be pronounced ['vdOmu].
Makes perfect sense: _vU domu_ > _w domu_.

> In Ukrainian also the opposite exists: when preceded by a
> vowel, initial
> consonants can become non-syllabic semivowels:
> _i_ "and" > _j_
> _u_ "at, with" > _v_ [w]
This is correct, but a bit irrelevant to your above example. These only
appear in most of the East Slavic territory after the fall of the yers
due to the bilabial pronunciation of _v_. It is in fact current in
Ukrainian, Belorussian and *most* Russian dialects, and the labiodental
is an aberration of the Rostov-Suzdal' dialects, on the basis of which
the literary language is formed. The bilabial consonant was vocalized
preobstruentally in roughly late 12th - early 13th century.

Pavel
--
Pavel Iosad               pavel_iosad@mail.ru

Nid byd, byd heb wybodaeth
                 --Welsh saying

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