Re: A BrSc a?

Raymond Brown wrote:
> >A
> >good majority of all languages I know something about (a quite small
> >percentage of the total, of course) has some sort of "ishoid" sound like
>[S
> >s` C c\] - frequently several of them. And as you pointed out yourself
>some
> >days ago, [x] isn't exactly uncommon either, esp'ly if you include [G X]
>etc
> >as valid variants. That'd solve {c} and {x}. Possibly [N] for {q}?
>
>The trouble with [G] is that it tends to become zero, or [j] before front
>vowels.
Well, unless you've got a /j/ phoneme [G]>[j] isn't a problem. Even [G]>zero
wouldn't necessarily spell trouble if you've got a strict CV syllable
structure. But both would be really strange allophones of /x/!

(remind me to include [x]~[j] variation on one language or another. Could
happen in some dialect of Steienzh, where you already get things like _zaux_
[zaUx] "star", pl "zaughen" [zaUGn=] (Steienzh spelling being rather more
phonetic than phonemic).)

>  Many people, including myself, really do find it difficult to
>pronounce [N] as a syllabic initial; I count it as non-IAL-friendly in this
>position.
I used to find it close to impossible, but when I begun studying Quenya, I
quickly found that few weeks of pretty infrequent and unfocused training
allowed me to do it with little trouble. Still, you're of course right that
many people'd find it difficult, and likely would have more trouble
mastering it than I had.

                                                        Andreas

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