Jesse S. Bangs wrote:
> Mangiat sikayal:
>
> Excellent work, Luca! I'm impressed:
Thanks!
> > lots of snipping
> >
> > 2) /v/ in intervocalic position, if derived from Latin /b/, is rarely
> > pronounced (80% no, 20%yes), while if derived from Latin /p/ it is
generally
> > pronounced, but it may not: al vureva /al vure.a/ (he wanted) pR VOLEBA
> > generating a hiatus; cavèj /ka'vEj/ (hair.pl) pR CAPILLU. There are some
> > words with a stable form (as cavèj always pronounced /ka'vEj/), but
there
> > are a lot with alternate forms, such as imperfect tense's
> > endings -evi, -evat, -eva etc. (how is this called? I remember someone
> > mentioned this phenomenon some weeks ago speaking about English
phonology).
>
> The phenomenon is called free alternation. WRT to the sounds themselves,
> even though they're phonetically identical if only one can be dropped,
> they are probably different phonemes. Therefore it might be wise to
> spell them differently. Perhaps you can use <w> for the [v] that may be
> dropped, and <v> for the [v] that cannot.
The problem is that the variation is very subtle. One can pronounce the /v/
whenever he wants, but if he does it in some words, it could sound strange.
I could delete the <v> in words whose pronounciation is 90% without /v/, but
there's always the 10%... an exemple? Nevuud is always /ne.u:t/ (pR NEPOTE),
but pronouncing it /nevu:t/ would not be an error, especially if you think
it is from a previous intervocalic /p/, which is generally retained... it
would only mean that you have a somehow swiss pronounciation (the dialect
spoken is the southern part of Tessin is very similar).
Luca
> > The problems come with /ts/ and /dz/. They're not allophones: panza
/pantsa/
> > and ranza /randza/ show this alternance. Locatelli, in his Vocabulary
and in
> > his 'Piccola Grammatica del Dialetto Comasco' decided to write /ts/ with
<z>
> > and /dz/ with <z acute> (the Polish letter), whereas he used <s> for /s/
and
> > <s acute> for /z/. The inconvenient is that this system, a very good
one,
> > uses two letters no typewriter here around used to have and which
costantly
> > lack in every normal computer. My idea is this:
> >
> > /ts/ rendered as <zz> when intervocalic (as we used <ss> for
intervocalic
> > /s/) and as <tz> if in a cluster.
> > /dz/ rendered as <z> everywhere.
>
> I think this is a good solution.
>
> >
> > OK, next time the vowels. Tell me what ya think.
> >
> > Luca
> >
>
> Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
> "It is of the new things that men tire--of fashions and proposals and
> improvements and change. It is the old things that startle and
> intoxicate. It is the old things that are young."
> -G.K. Chesterton _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_