Re: (YAEPT?) Pattern exemplifying as many vowel phonemes as possible?

>Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> wrote:
>What pattern (in the sense C_C or similar, where _ is a blank to be
>filled in) can be used to exemplify as many vowel phonemes as
>possible, to demonstrate the contrastiveness?
This reminds me of an incident in a Spanish phonetics class at SUNY
many years ago.  The professor was looking for a minimal "trio"
for /m/, /n/, and /J/.  I suggested "amo," "año," and "ano."  The
professor was not thrilled with this last suggestion!

If I had known more Spanish at the time, perhaps I would have
suggested "mato" (> matar), "nato" (cream), and "ñato" (flat-nosed).

I have encountered several people whose surname is Anonuevo.  I suppose
it's the best they can do, but I sure wouldn't want a surname that
meant "new anus."

Charlie

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