Re: Brithenig diphthongs (was: Yiddish influences in Brithenig)

[Andrew Smith <hobbit@mail.earthlight.co.nz>]

On Thu, 14 May 1998, Raymond A. Brown wrote:

> I'm not aware of vowel length having any function in Brithenig.  As I
> understand it _quality_, i.e. tenseness or laxity, are concomitant upon
> stress; I've not been aware of any quantitative difference.
> 
> It's true that some languages have length as a feature of stress, e.g.
> modern Greek where stressed vowels are longer than unstressed.  But in
> modern Greek there is no qualitative difference between stressed &
> unstressed vowels.
> 
> There is no inherent connexion between quality & quantity.  I think
> confusion arises sometimes because the so-called "short" vowels of Standard
> Southern British English are lax and the "long" are tense (this is by no
> means the case in all varieties of English).  But the terms "long" &
> "short" in this context are traditional and misleading; length distinction
> does exist in English but is not phonemic.  In "Standard Southern British
> English" the 'a' of 'bad' is long but that of 'cat' is short (the _quality_
> is the same in both - the "ash" sound denoted by the a-e ligature in IPA).
> 
Aaaah!

I hope I understand, because I've just posted the updated webpage to the
net.  If I got it wrong you know where to find me!

- andrew.

Andrew Smith                                  <hobbit@earthlight.co.nz>

MAN, despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many
accomplishments; still owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil
and the fact that it rains.
							   - Anonymous