Re: THEORY: phonemes and Optimality Theory tutorial

John Cowan wrote:

>On Sat, 18 Nov 2000, Marcus Smith wrote:
>
> > If you could find good evidence
> > that E and O are A+I and A+U, then I would go along with it.
>
>As in modern vernacular Arabic, I suppose, where the historical evidence
>is clear enough?
Historical evidence is not necessarily relevant for the synchronic state of
the language. But yes, evidence along those lines would be sufficient. Also
useful would be a situation where a prefix ended in A and the stem began
with I, and the word was pronounced with an E.


===============================
Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
===============================