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> >> And the Chinese phonemes are just too different from the mainstream > > to even > >> try to deal with, really. > > > > What do you mean with "Chinese phonemes are just too > > different from the mainstream to even deal with"? Do > > you think English phonemes, especially English completely > > idiosyncratic vowel system and the "th" sounds, are > > anything close to "the mainstream"? > > I'm referring to the retroflex/nonretroflex distinction, which only Indic > speakers wd be comfortable with, and (likewise ok for Indic speakers) the > aspirated/unaspirated contrast instead of voicing. Well, yes, the retroflex are quite "odd", but not the use of aspirated/unaspirated, which is used in many other languages, either leaving aside voicing (e.g. Quechua) or in combination with it in some or other way (e.g. Hindi, English, Georgian). > Nasal schwa? Interesting. How wd we transcribe it? Simple. Which other roman letter, apart form A, E, I, O, U, is commonly used as a vowel (even in English itself), and had even entered the roman alphabet precisely as a vowel not as a consonant letter? Y, which is also the letter used in Lojban for the schwa. Best regards, Javier