Re: LONG: Latest Wenetaic Stuff

Fabian <rhialto@...>

> 1) the long schwa exist in Demuan, at least, I think that is what it is. It
> is romanised as <er> and is pronounced like the vowel sound in the English
> <her>.
I think it's called a rhotic (or retroflex?) schwa. In IPA, it's
a schwa with a little hook or wedge ^ on the top-right.

>
> 2) That funny r sound. I dont remember the exact details of the conversation
> I had with paul. But, I think it goes on the lines that the Japanese R
> sounds like a cross between d,t,r,l to American ears because of the American
> dialect. Their R is notably different from the British R. I had a long phone
> call with a Scottish friend of mine earlier this evening, and apparently,
> the Japanese R and the Scottish R are very slightly different, but perfectly
> understandable. imho, this same R is also found in Maltese. I have no first
> hand knowledge of Spanish, so I can't compare that.
As far as I've heard Japanese, it's the same sound as the Spanish flap;
but it becomes lateral sometimes. I've heard it's actually a lateralized
flap, but that's really difficult to imagine.


--Pablo Flores
  http://draseleq.conlang.org/pablo-david/