Swedish vowel phonemes (was: Re: tlhn'ks't, ngghlyam'ft, and other scary words)

Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Daniel:
> > So consonant length is just as phonemic as vowel length in
> > Swedish, that is, not at all. You have long and short vowels
> > and consonants, but if you have one you can't have the other.
> If you consider neither vocalic length nor consonantal length to be
> phonemic, what do you consider to be the phonemic difference 'tween pairs
> like _vit_ and _vitt_?
Sorry the reply is a bit belated.

I don't think anyone can tell what is phonemic, vowel length
or consonant length. "Därom tvista de lärde", as we say. If
you claim that neither is phonemic, the consequence is that
we have like 17 to 22 vowel phonemes (like e.g. Olle Engstrand
says in the IPA handbook). Otherwise you have to say (like me) that we have nine
vowel phonemes. And then we have length.

Daniel Andreasson

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