Re: Transcription exercise

Paul Roser skrev:

> The number of languages that distinguish two voiceless lateral fricatives is
> quite small - off the top of my head, Bura, Cocopa, Northern Diegueno
> distinguish dental/alveolar and palatalized/palatal versions, Toda and
> A-hmao distinguish dental/alveolar and retroflex versions, and one of the
> Central Highland languages of Papua (Wahgi or Nii IIRC) has voiceless
> lateral fricative allophones of its *three* laterals - dental, alveolar,
> velar, but I think they only contrast word-finally.
So more symbols *would* be needed.  I think the (ab)use of the
'lateral release' diacritic with fricative symbols might
be justified on the grounds that with non-occlusives
the lateral configuration would be expected to be present
throughout the sound.

>> But actually I'm beginning to have doubts about the
>> palatal(ized)/palatal lateral distinction.  Perhaps
>> palatality in liquids should vary harmonically along with
>> palatality in vowels?  (Even so I could have *[r_j] > /j/!)
>> OTOH if so shouldn't nasal palatality also vary harmonic-
>> ally, with /J/ in front harmony words corresponding to both
>> /n/ and /N/ of back harmony words; perhaps also front [j]
>> and [H] against back [G] and [w].  The closest analog from a
>> natlang that I know of is the variation between front /k g/
>> and back /X R/ of classigal Mongolian, but the idea as such
>> seems naturalistically plausible. There would be no phonemic
>> distinction between palatal and non-palatal lingual
>> sonorants, but there might still be a distinction in
>> spelling, since Heleb spelling is supposed to be a
>> rather clumsy adaptation of Classical Sohlob spelling
>> -- CS having phonemic /J j/ against /n N G/ since it
>> has no front harmony, but only height harmony.
>
> The closest thing I can think of the spreading of pharyngealization in some
> Caucasian languages - a pharyngealized uvular or vowel spreads
> pharyngealization to the rest of the word, though I don't know if anything
> blocks it. So I guess that's not the same as harmony of consonants triggered
> by front/back vowels...
>
I thought of the change in some Turkic languages whereby
palatal vowel harmony is replaced by palatal consonant
harmony -- i.e. rounded vowels in 'front' vords become
back, but the consonants of these 'front' words remain
palatalized before the formerly front vowels.  I don't
know if it works the other way  too so that palatal(ized)
consonants in 'back' words lose their palatality.

> --Bfowol
>
>
>

--
/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se

    "Maybe" is a strange word.  When mum or dad says it
    it means "yes", but when my big brothers say it it
    means "no"!

                            (Philip Jonsson jr, age 7)

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