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--- In ceqli@yahoogroups.com, Rex May - Baloo <rmay@m...> wrote: > on 5/30/05 10:06 AM, Jim Henry at jimhenry1973@g... wrote: > > > On 5/30/05, Rex May <rmay@m...> wrote: ---BIG SNIPS--- > > > > You also need to be explicit about how to parse sequences of three > > or more vowels. For instance, > > > > caia > > > > could be pronounced /'tSaj.a/ or /'tSa.ja/, > > as far as I can tell (forgive me if I overlooked the part > > where you said how to parse these). > > > > I didn't. But I could have: And given three vowels with a semivowel in the > middle, the semivowel always goes with the following vowel. Does that cover > it? I don't think it's important whether "caia" is pronounced with the "i" diphthonging to the first "a" or the second. The distinction in pronunciation is so subtle that there's no way it'll be maintained by speakers. And there's no way in the written language to create two different words with these different pronunciations to reinforce any difference.