Re: Hardcore spellings (was Re: mu for [N] (was: Koryak Vowel harmony))

Hi!

Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> writes:
> > Qthen|gai's main problem seems to be that it has uvular, pharyngeal,
> > but no labial sounds.
>
> The Qthen|gai dialects in which /u/ is unrounded should be as good as
> lip-reading-proof, like your earlier Tyl-Sjok.  You seem to have
> a taste against using the lips in conlangs ;-)
You noticed. :-)  I started a new conlang sketch today (hope it makes
it into a language) and I found it has no labial phones.

Concerning myself, I *can* use my lips. :-) I really don't know why I
have this strange obsession.  But imagine news readers on TV.  Or the
new dimension of freedom in theater plays where the channel of lip
movement is totally unoccupied because it's non-phonemic in speech. :-)

> But I find your romanization of Qthen|gai quite straightforward.
Ah, that's good feedback!  I will have to change one vowel, however,
because I want the spelling to be more phonetic instead of phonemic,
so I'll need |e| and |o| for [e] and [o] (allophones of /i/ and /u/,
resp.).  |y| will be used for /@/ according to a good suggestion from
the list and after searching the Unicode data base for vowels 'with
acute', 'with grave', 'with macron' and 'with dot above', all of which
I will need.

No change to the consonants' romanisation so far -- unfortunately no
alternatives really convinced me aesthetically.

**Henrik