Re: vowels: are they necessary?

On 11.12.2004, at 01:40, Stephen Mulraney wrote:

> Carlos Alberto Martinez wrote:
>
>>
>> I thought I've read somewhere, that czech for "cross" is "krst", this
>> qualifies
>> as a vowelless word methinks.
>
> The _r_ is the vowel (like in the second syllable of English _better_,
> although the
> Czech _r_ is trilled IIRC) (yes, syllabic and trilled.. :).
A Czech example sentence with only vocalic _r_:
"Strc prst skrs krk" which means (IIRC): "Stick your finger into your
throat".

They also have vocalic _l_: "vlk" ("wolf").

Cognates from Czech usually have more vowels, e.g. the German name
"Wildschek" which indeed comes from "vlcek" which is a diminutive of
"vlk".

Greetings,
Dan.As.