Danny Wier wrote:
>Kristian Jensen wrote:
-----<snip>-----
>
>>Incidentally, some of the Boreanesian languages also developed
tones
>>in what appears to be a similar way to the Toqians. In this case,
>>the loss of the distinction between stiff and slack phonation in
>>syllable final consonants. Words whose cognates in standard
>>Boreanesian ends in a stiff phonation is pronounce in some
dialects
>>with a falling tone, while those with cognates in standard
>>Boreanesian ending in a slack phonation is pronounced with a high
>>tone.
>
>Question -- how do previous stiff/slack phonation relate to modern
>tones?
Ummm... Didn't I just describe that? Falling tone from stiff, and
high tone from slack.
>I have low tone for formerly glottalized stops/affricates and high
>tone for aspirated. Mid tone for the plain stops. This produces a
>simpler consonant inventory; here I give the phonemes (there may be
a
>few more):
>
>lab den alv ret lat pal vel v+l uvu pha glo
>p t ts t` tL tS k kw q ? (fortis mutation)
>b d dz d` dl dZ g gw G (lenis mutation)
>f T s s` L S x xw X H h (spirant mutation)
>m n n_ n` nl n~ N Nw N` (nasal mutation)
> r (r`)
> l (l`) (l~)
>w j
>
>Notes:
>Qot. /`/ (Arabic _`ayn_) merges with /j/.
>There is no lenition of nasals (so no nasalized fricatives).
>The fricatives have voiced allophones; the nasals have voiceless
>allophones, though less frequently.
>
>A lot more manageable compared to the couple hundred consonants of
the
>main dialects, huh...
This is probably the dialect that most foriegners are taught in
Techia, since it would be a lot more easier for them to learn. The
other dialects would just become a nightmare - both for the learner
and for the teacher trying to teach the linguistically inadept. 8-)
-kristian-