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Re: First post & three questions

From:SMITH,MARCUS ANTHONY <smithma@...>
Date:Saturday, January 20, 2001, 23:33
On Sat, 20 Jan 2001, jesse stephen bangs wrote:

> Romanian has the semivocalized vowels /o/ and /e/ in the diphthongs /oa/ > and /ea/. These are extremely common diphthongs in Romanian, but > unfortunately, the distinctive status of semivowels [o] and [e] seems to > be disappearing. Based on my experience in Romanian, there is no auditory > difference between [w] and semi-[o] and the native speakers don't seem to > distinguish them, and there is only minimal distinction between [j] and > semi-[e]. Some speakers distinguish them, but others make them both [j].
Pima distinguishes between [w] and semi-[o]. They are very difficult to tell apart, but with enough practice and attention (and quiet enough environment) you can hear the difference. Semi-[e] is not found in the language, because it does not have the equivalent vowel at all. Marcus Smith