Re: First post & three questions

Roger Mills sikayal:

> Teoh and others have written:
>
> >On Fri, Jan 19, 2001 at 04:21:05PM -0700, dirk elzinga wrote:
> >[snip]
> >> > 1. What semivowels are there other than y and w?
> >>
> >> It seems to me that any high vowel may have a semivowel partner,
> >> so just as /y/ is /i/'s semivowel partner and /w/ is /u/'s, you
> >> can also have a high front rounded semivowel as a partner to /ü/
> >> (u-umlaut), and a high back unrounded semivowel as a partner to
> >> /ï/ (i-diaresis). This is the so-called 'velar glide' of
> >> Axininca Campa.
> >
> >Is it possible for other vowels to be semi-vowelized as well? 'cos my
> >conlang has "smooth vowels": smooth /i/ --> [ji], smooth /u/ --> [wu].
> >How would this generalize to other vowels such as [a] or [e]? I pronounce
> >a smooth /a/ almost like [Qa] (Q = velar fricative) except that it's a
> >very weak [Q], almost non-velar-like. How would you classify something
> >like this?>
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].

Nonetheless, it seems that the distinction was there at one time.

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_