Re: USAGE: syllables

On Thu, Jun 12, 2003 at 01:15:16PM -0700, JS Bangs wrote:
> Maximally, there are 7 or so sonority classes in any language, though some
> languages may distinguish more. In order from least to most sonorous,
> these are:
>
> 1) Stops
> 2) Fricatives
> 3) Nasals
> 4) Liquids ([l], [r], and the like)
> 5) High vocoids ([i],[u],[j],[w], etc.)
> 6) Mid vocoids ([e],[o], etc.)
> 7) Low vocoids ([a])
Just in case this isn't clear: [j] refers to the sound spelled in
English with the letter Y (but in German, Swedish, Esperanto, etc.
with a J).  The sound spelled in English with a J is rendered [dZ],
and falls into the "fricative" category in the above list (more
specifically, it's an affricate).  The symbol [Z] by itself is the sound
spelled in *French* with J, and occuring in the middle of the English word
"measure".

A question: is the above sequence universal?  My subjective experience
in producing the sounds would lead me to say that fricatives were
more sonorous than nasals or liquids, and it's difficult to rank
the latter two at all; they seem about equivalent.

> I recently discovered that Old Yivrian is best described with three sonority
> classes:
The grouping of [l] with stops rather than with [r]/[w] does seem odd.
But what is Old Yivrian?  I've not heard of it.

-Mark

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