Re: Time to play Identify Those Phones, and a bit of a pharyngeal question

> On Wed, 1 Mar 2000 00:41:49 -0600 Eric Christopherson
> <raccoon@...> writes:
> > Also, what general effects do pharyngeals have on surrounding
> > vowels? I
> > remember reading that [i] became [E] and [u] became [O] in
> > pharyngeal
> > environments in some language, but I'm not sure. An explanation of
> > why they
> > are influenced that way would help as well. Thanks!
> Well, in Hebrew, the pharyngeals /H 3/ (and word-final /h/) don't really
> affect surrounding vowels that much, they just drag the vowel /a/ along
> with them.  Most of the time, this just amounts to an epenthetic /a/
> before, such as /Somer/ ShMR vs. /Somea3/ ShM3, and /rox/ RVK vs. /noaH/
> NVHh.  Sometimes, verb forms like the pattern ..._e_et becomes _a_at when
> a pharyngeal is involved:  /SomErEt/ ShMR vs. /Soma3at/ ShM3.
> -Stephen (Steg)
...delurking

Hm, ...in Modern Hebew all pharyngeals that ocurred in Biblical Hebrew are
neutralised...
but they effect its phonology...

Compare (SAMPA notation)
(please notice: I don't know Hebrew very good, but that's what I can tell
:-)

 1. "yigmor" (g.m.r) 'he will finish'  vs "ya?\amod" (?\.m.d) 'he will
stand'
 2. "kotvim" (k.t.b) 'they write'  vs "So?alim" (S.?.l) 'they ask'
 3. "medabrim" (d.b.r) 'they talk' vs "mesaX\akim" (s.X\.k) 'they play'
 4. "tisgor" (s.g.r) 'you will close'  vs "tivX\ar" (v.X\.r) 'you will
choose'

Any pharyngeal is follwed by an "a" here.

 5. "diber" (d.b.r) 'he talked' vs "te?er" (t.?.r) 'he described'
 6. "somexet" (s.m.k) 'she ...(?)' vs "potaX\at" (p.t.X\) 'she opens'
 7. "medubar" (d.b.r) 'talked' vs "meSo?\ar" (S.?\.r) 'received (?)'

No high vowels before a pharayngeal

Some people say that pharyngeal sounds require [-high] or even [+low] sounds
before or after them, just because they are [+low] themselves. Would be kind
of an assimilation process here.

Quechua is easier here:

Quechua has got a 3-Vowel system (a,i,u) and three uvular consonants
(q,q_h,q'). The high vowels "i" and "u" are lowered to "E" and "O",
respectively, following one of these sounds or preceding them in the
syllable.

  ayq[E]n, qh[E]lla, q'[E]llu, ch[E]qniy, p[E]rqa
  q[O]ri, q'[O]ni, [O]rq[O], s[O]qta, q[O]lq[E]


Hope this may help you out

  -Sven Sommerfeld