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Re: [ceqli] Stress



on 5/30/05 9:54 AM, Jim Henry at jimhenry1973@hidden.email wrote:

> On 5/30/05, Rex May <rmay@hidden.email> wrote:
> 
>> So why not spell it "himl", "fiqr"?  I think that in the case of the
>> German word, it's actually arguable as to whether it's one
>> syllable or two.  That is, the -el, -er syllable is minimal (to my ear,
>> anyway), and can be considered so faint ast to not be counted as
>> a syllable at all.
> 
> OK, but you're complicating the phonotactics again.
> Some IALs allow speakers to insert an unstressed schwa where
> they have trouble with particular consonant clusters
> (or syllabic liquids and nasals, as here).

I haven't really mentioned that, but yes, I expect schwa-buffering.  Might
as well, as it'll happen anyway.

Another approach, which you all might like better, is to simply reverse the
last two letters.  Finger > fingre, Himmel > himle.  That would leave the
stress where it belongs, and distort the last syllable only slightly.  But I
don't like it much, myself.

If I go with the himl pattern, I suppose I'll need to say that syllabic
nasals and liguids are not counted as real syllables for stress purposes,
whether they are intense enough to seem like syllables or not.
-- 

Rex F. May (Baloo) 
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