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Rex May - Baloo wrote: > > Here's what I've come up with for the y&w-free Ceqli > > If Ceqli dispenses with y and w, and allows i and u to serve as semivowels, > how will vowel combinations be pronounced? My proposal: > > a, e, and o may not be juxtaposed in any order > > ai - hIGH > ei - hAY > oi - bOY > au - cOW > eu - be vEWy quiet, I am hunting wabbits. > > Triphthongs are possible, but must follow the rule that a, e, and o may > not be juxtaposed. > > aia AH-yah > aie AH-yeh > aio AH-yoh, etc. > > The only possible ambiguity is ui and iu. To avoid ambiguity, their > pronounciations > are specified thus: > > ui whee > iu you > > As diphthongs. But in triphthongs, the following letter trumps this rule: > > uia OO-yah > iua EE-wah I find it very difficult to pronounce a single syllable with either /i/ or /u/ in the middle. Unless there is a great need for such triphthongs, I would avoid them. BTW, are vowel combinations other than the defined diphthongs and triphthongs forbidden? If not, then we could simply specify that combinations like <uia> and <iua> are two syllables, and that the default is that the second and third elements form a diphthong. Then, if a loan required something like /ui a/ or /iu e/, an apostrophe could be used to separate the syllables, without necessarily implying a glottal stop. Of course, its much simpler to just stick to the defined diphthongs and triphthongs. It will make pronunciation easier, and it shouldn't interfere too much with bringing in loans. Since morphemes can't begin with vowels, no odd vowel sequences should arise from compounding. -- Mike Wright http://www.CoastalFog.net _____________________________________________________ "China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese." -- Charles de Gaulle