Re: p^ho'nemIts) 'englIS

Trebor: I hope you realize that I wasn't making a serious suggestion,
just describing a fun way to pronounce English.   Put another way:`

<leghorn>It was a joke, I say, a joke, son.</leghorn>

:)

TJ> Looking at the phonemic inventory, I notice it's biased.

Certainly.  But not in the direction of mine or any other 'lect of
current English; I just went with the cardinal vowels and other standard
interpretations of those letters from various languages and the IPA.  I
mean, I don't normally say [no'vem.ber\], either; I say [noU_^'vEm.br\=].

TJ> People will have to get used to saying things like:
TJ> [lIbrari] instead of [laIbEr\i].

Yes, the first r\ is there in the pronunciation because it's *spelled*
with an 'r' there.  This is purely a spelling thing, which in no wise
attempts to account for all the various ways English is currently
pronounced.  The idea is to treat all such pronunciations, including my
own, equally - by discarding them in favor of the new one. :)

TJ> Seeing as how English is the Terran auxlang...

Uh-oh.  You said the 'a' word. :)

TJ> /x/ and /G/ might be too difficult to pronounce. Maybe /ks)/ and /g_h/?

I think pronouncing [G] is far easier than distinguishing [g_h] from [g],
personally.  The aspiration thing is much easier on fortis/voiceless
than on lenis/voiced ones.

David Peterson chimed in:

DP> <General response>
DP> Ha!   What a hoot!   I love how "years" comes out.

Thank you. :)

DP> Now imagine words like "psychiatrist", "phlegm" and "gnomonistic".

Well, [psi.tS)I'at.rIst] is unproblematic.  For [p^hlegm] and
[gno.mo'nIs.tIts)] we might have to allow substitution of syllabic
nasals . . .

-Mark

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