Re: apostrophes in transliteration (stress in Tokana)

Nik Taylor wrote:

> J Matthew Pearson wrote:
> >   Ma uthmena ihai't halma.
> >
> > How does that sound?
>
> Nice, but how about:
>
> Ma uthmena ihai t halma
Reminiscent of Russian, as well as Tohono O'odham (a.k.a. Papago), both of
which IIRC write consonant clitics as separate words.  I don't think I like
the look of consonants floating around by themselves without a vocalic
chaperone...


> Ma uthmena ihai t'halma
>
> (Since it is gramatically connected with _halma_)
I'd considered this, and may eventually switch to it.  It makes syntactic
sense.  But my 'native speaker intuitions' tell me that the "t" really goes
with the preceding word.  If I were to sound out the sentence word by word,
it would come out:  "Ma ... uthmina ... ihai t ... halma".  (Incidentally,
it should be "uthmina", not "uthmena"; another new sound change rule that
I'm still getting used to.)

Also, the choice of the reduced form "t" or the full form "te" depends on
the preceding word.  If the preceding word ends in a vowel or diphthong,
then "t" is used; if it ends in a consonant, then "te" is used.


> Or, like John Cowan suggested, using hyphens:
>
> Ma uthmena ihai-t halma
I like "ihai-t" almost as much as "ihai't".  Maybe I could use them both in
graphemic free variation...

Matt.