[Spellyans] The quantity system
Owen Cook
owen.e.cook at gmail.com
Wed Jun 25 13:51:43 BST 2008
2008/6/25 Jon Mills <j.mills at email.com>:
> Yes, this something that has been bothering me. If the word 'provia' carries
> tonic stress on [-i-] then the [-i@] is an example of two vowels with hiatus
> as you describe. This contrasts with 'profya' that ends with a rising
> diphthong [j@]. Rial/ryal contains a diphthong [-i at -].
> Jon
No, you would have to prove that /i@/ as a diphthong is somehow
different from /i.@/ as two vowels on hiatus. I strongly doubt this.
/i/ is frequently followed by another vowel on hiatus -- 'provia' is
one example, 'tiogyon' is another. In the SWF as in KS, <i> always
represents a vowel. The consonant /j/ is always <y>. So <ia> for /i.@/
and <ya> for /ja/ is totally regular and makes good sense. And as
Michael pointed out, both types of spelling are attested in the texts.
Personally I wouldn't analyze 'profya' as having a rising diphthong
anyway. Would you say 'yar' has a rising diphthong? Why postulate a
separate rising diphthong or triphthong for /ju/, /jo/, /ja/, /je/,
/jQ/, /jow/ when we can more economically say that these are a single
consonant, /j/, followed by the vowels and diphthongs we already know?
Oll an gwelha,
~~Owen
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