Re: "Brithenig"; stress again

[John Cowan <cowan@locke.ccil.org>]

Andrew Fferreir yscrifef:

> NO!  I feel the need for strong words here because that revision of the
> webpage has been up for several months now.  I was surprised that you
> looked at it some time ago and didn't find that reference to stress.

Per mew culp, per mew culp, per mew massim culp!

For some unfathomable reason (perhaps I misspelled "stress"), I didn't
find that passage on 3 April, but the printout I made on 2 April
clearly shows its presence.  Tres bizarre.

> I have nearly completed a revision of the webpage that will change that
> description to say that Brithenig places stress on the ultima.

Even though it was I who suggested this, I still have problems with
finite verbs.  How did the Latin stress get moved to the ultima
there, since final syllables were *not* lost?  (French is no
parallel here, since French final syllables were slaughtered wholesale.)

> It should
> be up as soon as we have cleared out the bugs on the new page listing
> names and I have completed updating the lexicon to include words that have
> been publically announced.

Excellent!

> Asseth ia!

Eh?

> Still, would somebody please explain tense and lax.  It is not a strong
> point for me, common on Conlang, and may mean further revisions.  It can
> only give us a better understanding of how Brithenig works.

I'm not sure what you think needs explaining.  Lax vowels are enunciated
with less energy, and tend to be shorter in duration and more centralized.
The page explains it very clearly, I think: Brithenig vowels are tense
when stressed and lax when unstressed, like Portuguese but unlike
Spanish (always tense).

-- 
John Cowan	http://www.ccil.org/~cowan		cowan@ccil.org
	You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
	You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
		Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (FW 16.5)