Re: A'stou part I

At 18:53 09/05/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>> a: /a/
>> e: /e/
>> i: /i/
>> o: /O/
>> u: /y/
>> Length is not a phonemic feature of A'stou.
>> Diphtongs (digraphs) are formed by combining a strong and a weak vowel.
>> Falling diphtongs (strong vowel followed by weak vowel) stand for the
>> following sounds:
>> ai: /E/ oi: /Oj/        ei: /Ej/
>> au: /o/ ou: /u/ eu: /9/ as in french 'peur'
>
>Is there any [2], perhaps as an allophone of /9/?
>
Not in the "Classical A'stou" as least. There is nearly no evidence of the
actual spoken language, so I cannot tell for sure.

>> In rising diphtongs (weak vowel followed by strong vowel), the weak vowel
>> stands for a glide: i: /j/ and u: /w/
>
>Interesting, so <u> is /y/ AND /w/?  Why not use <ou> for the /w/
>sound?  That would be a bit more consistent.
>
Ask the Dha'stem! :)) I have no evidence of that but I think that u'ta
(upsilon) used to mark /u/ and /w/, and that later /u/ was advanced as /y/,
while a new /u/ appeared by the simplification of a diphtong /ow/. It would
explain this inconsistency. But it's only a guess, nobody really knows why
the Dha'stem used the Greek alphabet like that.

>> b_: /b@/        d_: /d@/        bh_: /v@/
>> g_: /g@/        z_: /z@/        zh_: /Z@/
>
>Interesting.
>
Indeed. Externally speaking, I got the idea from the single-consonnant
prepositions of Russian.

>> - psi, called /'Sin/ and transcribed <sh>, standing for /S/,
>> - psi-dot, transcribed <zh>, standing for /Z/\
>
>Interesting usage.
>
>> NOTE: <sy> and <zy> (palatalised sigma and sigma-dot) are homophonous to
>> <sh> and <zh>
>
>How is the usage determined?  Was it on etymological grounds?
>
I don't understand this question. If you mean "how do we know how it was
pronounced?", it's mainly by comparison with tries from people speaking
other languages to represent words of A'stou. With all the uncertainty it
implies...

>> The structure of the syllable is quite free for the onset but very
>> restrictive (in comparison) for the coda. In general, we can write it
>> (C)(C)(C)V(C'). Yes, three consonnants are allowed for the onset
>
>> - Onset clusters must be of the same voicing (all voiceless or all voiced,
>> with the letters that cannot carry a dot considered neutral in this
>> respect). Yet, as a cluster inside a word is composed of a consonnant of
>> coda of the previous syllable and the consonnants of onset of the next one,
>> the first consonnant of such clusters can be of different voicing than the
>> other consonnants.
>> - Coda consonnants cannot be palatalized, nor can /h/ appear in coda
position.
>
>That's the ONLY restriction?  Can you have, say, _gbda_?
>
I don't think three stops in a row are allowed. But something like _ptra_
and even _spta_ are allowed.

>> in coda position (like in the word A'stou itself).
>
>Why wouldn't a'stou be syllabified as a'-stou?
>
Evidence (like the writing of sigma and the fact that the first consonnant
of a consonnant-cluster between two vowels can of a different voicing from
the other consonnants) shows that a consonnant-cluster between two vowels
was always syllabified with the first consonnant pertaining to the previous
syllable.

                                                Christophe Grandsire
                                                |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.

"Reality is just another point of view."

homepage : http://rainbow.conlang.org
(ou : http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepages/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html)