> From: Togonakamane@AOL.COM
>
> In a message dated 10/3/00 8:34:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> smithma@UCLA.EDU
> writes:
>
> > You are forgetting geminates -- they are also moraic.
> >
> > >The Japanese syllabry (hiragana) actually has characters for moras,
> > >not syllables....
> >
> > Indeed. So don't forget the _tu_ character used to mark geminate
> consonants.
> >
> oh yeah, the "little tsu" that doubles consonants. that I did forget, but
> geminates..... well, it's hard to forget something that you didn't know
> anything more about than the word.....there's all this talk of geminates
> right now on the list.....what IS a geminate? in layman's terms,
> please, the
> explanations I've seen so far on the list have been way beyond me.
Perhaps you missed Dirk's explanation which I think was quite lucid:
> From: dirk elzinga
>
> A geminate consonant is long; compare the pronunciation of English /n/
> in 'penny' with the /n/ in 'pen knife'; you should notice that the /n/
> in 'penny' is short, while that of 'pen knife' is long. The lengthened
> /n/ in 'pen knife' can be considered a geminate.
David