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Re: The difference between /aw/ and /au/

From:Danny Wier <dawier@...>
Date:Wednesday, February 17, 1999, 23:44
Kristian Jensen wrote:

>I have long wondered if there is a difference between transcriptions >like /aw/ and /au/, /aj/ and /ai/, /ow/ and /ou/, /ej/ and /ei/, >etc. etc.
In practice there usually is none. But in theory they would not be used interchangeably, because /au/, /ai/, /ou/, and /ei/ are diphthongs, which are glides from one vowel quality to another, and /aw/, /aj/, /aw/, and /ej/ are vowel + consonant combinations, where a vowel is followed by a fully-articulated consonant. There would be a glide involved in both cases, but remember in the latter cases you have the consonant, which seems to beg something (probably another vowel) afterwards. But in the real world, the difference between vowel + vowel and vowel + semivowel is so minute, and I can't think of a natlang where there is a phonemic difference between /ai/ and /aj/. (Now French does have _-lle_ words where the true transcription would be /-j/: /maRsej/ Marseille. And of course there are masculine adjectives in Russian: /sinij/ 'dark blue'). Danny ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com