Re: First post & three questions

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