> Remember that IPA is not meant to represent every *possible* distinction,
> but only every *necessary* distinction in existent languages. For example,
> [j] represents both the approximant of English "yes" and the fricative
> of (some kinds of) Spanish "yo", because no known language makes a phonemic
> distinction between these sounds. If one were found, a new symbol would
> be introduced into IPA.
Huh? I've always thought that the curly-tailed [z] was the correct IPA
symbol for the Spanish sound. It's a voiced palatal fricative, just
barely different from the voiced palatal approximant [j]. I care because
my conlang has a phonemic difference between them! Any more info on this?
>
> --
> John Cowan cowan@ccil.org
> One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
> --Douglas Hofstadter
>
Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
"It is of the new things that men tire--of fashions and proposals and
improvements and change. It is the old things that startle and
intoxicate. It is the old things that are young."
-G.K. Chesterton _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_