OT: Syllable structure in Georgian (was Re: sorta OT: cases, please help...)

Quoting laokou <laokou@...>:

> From: "Thomas R. Wier"
>
> > Speaking of syllable structure, is there any language out there that
> > beats Georgian's EIGHT consonants in an onset?
> >
> >   gvprckvnis = "He is fleecing"
>
> Okay, I'll bite. How is this pronounced? Is "r" vocalic? Minimal
> pairs?
The short answer is:  there's no real professional data to
answer that question.  What seems clear is that when /v/
follows consonants in onsets, its only function appears to
be to labialize them, having no strong realization itself.
I suspect that the other main peak of sonority in the "onset",
the /r/, which is IIRC a uvular trill, probably functions,
in effect, as a syllable nucleus. This would make my
question a trick question, I suppose.

One of the problems with answering this question is that
nobody (and I mean, nobody) really knows what a syllable is.
There are lots of good guesses, like the aforementioned
sonority criterion.  You can make a neat looking hierarchy
for this:

 Most sonorous
   vowels
   (semivowels)
   liquids
   nasals
   fricatives
   stops
 Least sonorous

with sounds higher on the hierarchy more likely to be a
syllable nucleus.  The Big Problem with this theory is
that semivowels are *defined* by not being syllable
nuclei: they're just like vowels, except, well, not. If it
worked, though (OB: CONLANG), then you could set your
syllable structure to allow syllable nuclei peaks at
anywhere higher than, say, fricatives.  Bella Coola e.g.
has a word [sXs], whose meaning I forget.

The theory that my phonetics professor espouses (in his
more whimsical moments, which are legion), is that a syllable
is basically what you want it to be -- i.e., syllables are
phonological, not phonetic, targets.  That explains why
you can find minimal pairs that are distinguished only by
the number of syllables:

  hire   :  [haI(r] (where /r/ is an alveolar glide)
  higher :  [haI(r=]

Most triphthongs, then, would presumably be cases where the
people find it useful not to syllabify a word in a given way.

> Are we in the realm of Eskimo snow words?
No, I've heard it pronounced!

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>
                     "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers

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