Re: Why Consonants?

Eric Christopherson wrote:
> On Feb 17, 2007, at 2:47 AM, T. A. McLeay wrote:
>
>> There's also the concept of "vocoids" and "contoids" which allow for a
>> less circular definition, but I'm pretty sure [l, r\] (and all
>> approximants) are classified as "vocoids" in that system, yet they're
>> usually *not* nuclei.
>
> Out of curiosity, why "contoid" rather than *"consoid"?
I don't know. One would need to ask Kenneth Pike.

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R A Brown wrote:
[snip]
 >
 > PHONETICALLY
 > vowel - sounds articulated without a complete closure in the vocal
 > tractor with a degree of narrowing in the vocal tract so as produce
 > audible friction.
 > consonant - sound made by complete closure or a narrowing of the vocal
 > tract so as to produce audible friction.

OOOPS!!!!!

The above should have read:
"vowel - sounds articulated without a complete closure in the vocal
tract or with a degree of narrowing in the vocal tract so as produce
audible friction.
consonant - sound made by complete closure or a narrowing of the vocal
tract so as _NOT_ to produce audible friction."

Sorry!

[snip]
 > The meaning of 'consonant' in the subject heading "Why Consonants?" is
 > not IMO clear in this thread.

Indeed:
1. [Written] If the question means why consonant symbols, the answer is
of course to represent consonants & contoids. The example of *ee* *e a*
**e **u**ou*e *o*o**o* (Meet me at the clubhouse tomorrow) shows why
this is a good idea.
2. [Phonetic] If the question means why stops and fricatives as well as
phonetic vowels? The answer presumably is because humans can produce
such sounds and they help to give more variety to speech.
3. [Phonological] If the question means why do we have syllabic margins
as well as syllabic centers? The answer surely is that a language with
only syllabic centers would be very restrictive, boring and inexpressive.

BTW it simply is not true even in the Roman alphabet that all vowels are
always "small letters". In its original use _y_ *always* denoted a
vowel. It still does always denote a vowel in Welsh, German, the
Scandinavian languages and all the Slav languages written in the Roman
alphabet. Even in English, _y_ is often (more often?) a vowel, e.g. by,
my, psychology, yttrium, cyan etc, etc, etc.

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB}

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