Re: OE diphthongs/breaking (was: Re: Germanic vowel correspondences (was: Scots.))
| From: | J. 'Mach' Wust <j_mach_wust@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 10:37 |
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On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:53:11 -0400, John Vertical <johnvertical@...>
wrote:
>>(If I squint *just*so* I can see how /I(:)/ might merge with /y(:)/ but
>>not /i(:)/, but I find it difficult to believe any language would
>>distinguish all four of /i: i I: I/.
>
>Somali and probably many other sub-Saharan African languages; but that's
>more of ±ATR than tense/lax...
There's also Indoeuropean samples. The distinction is quite common in
Alemannic German dialects, many of which additionally distinguish /y y: Y
Y:/ and, of course, /e e: 2 2:/. Some might describe it as tenseness
oppositions, but I prefer to view it as simple height distinctions.
--
grüess
mach