Re: Danish: tonal suffices?

>From: Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...>
>Subject: Re: Danish: tonal suffices?
>Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 18:45:14 +0200
>Danish phonology is wonderfully complicated, and the book will give
>you plenty of inspiration for complicated phonologies. It has a strong
>generative approach to Danish phonology, but digresses once in a while
>to a structuralist approach only to point out its disadvantage in
>describing Danish phonology.
Thanks for the hint. And tusind tak to both you and Lars for the info. I had
of course heard of the sto/d at school before, but never thought much about
it. I still can't believe a mere glottal stop and the lack of it can command
what I perceive as such a wide variation in tone...

But anyway, whichever way it really is, we can agree that Danish phonology
is indeed wonderfully complicated and fascinating. But let me tell you what
started me thanking of Danish phonology in the first place; another one of
my favorite conlang types is "future languages". Once I designed an outline
for "French 3000". In those cases I often decide that the conlang is just a
derivative of the modern language, spoken by isolated colonists on a
far-away planet in the year 3000. So this time I was thinking of "Danish
3000". This is a very healthy pastime, as it gets me focused and thinking
about the phonology of the modern languages in question. Very educational :)

So, what I'm getting at is that the tonal system I described is at least not
a bad prediction for a future phonology of Danish (the modern sto/d system
developing into a full tonal system), since a "native" speaker like me could
even perceive it to be that way today. So what do you think?...Danish 3000:
3-4 different tones used for grammatical items, such as plurality and verb
tenses. Whatever, I'll be working some more on the idea.

Another thing: I have to admit that I have no idea what the difference
between "structuralism" and "generativism" is. I tried to ask in AUXLANG but
got no clear answers. Can any of you please explain it to me in basic terms?
Thank you :):)

Oskar
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