Re: Russian soft/hard 'l' minimal pairs (was: glottals)

NOTE: I sent part of this msg yesternight, but for some reason I
didn't see it appearing in the List. If you receive it twice, accept
my apologies.
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Philippe Caquant a skrzypt:

> Isn't it a question of stress, like in zAmok / zamOk ?
> --- Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...> wrote:
> > How can you then tell the difference between _угол_
> > |ugol| 'corner' and _уголь_
> > |ugol'| 'coal'?????
Surely no. In both words it is the first syllable that is stressed:
["ug@5],
["ug@l_j].
The phone*m*ic opposition may be seen in the following minimal pair:
_лук_ |luk| 'onion' :: _люк_ |ljuk| 'manhole'.

Pavel Iosad a skrzypt:

> There are more examples where the two contrast:
> _stal'_ 'steel' / _stal_ '(he) became'. Et cetera. There are many
more, and Im sure there
> are word-medial ones., just can't think of any.
Word-initial see above.
Word-medial: _(на) валу_ |(na) valu| '(on the) shaft' :: _валю_
|valju| 'I knock (it) down'.

Re _stal_. More precisely, it's not '(he) became', but 'became
(m.sn.)'. Our foreign colleagues need to know that Russian verbs in
preterite do not demonstrate agreement in person.

-- Yitzik

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