[Spellyans] tavas in early Middle Cornish

[Daniel Prohaska]

Jed, 
There is no distinction in RLC between the unstressed vowels <lebmyn> and <kegin>. Gendall gives both with [ə]. This is why I have postulated that MC unstressed /ɪ/ lowered and centralised to [ə] while MC unstressed /ə/ was ‘pushed’ further down to [ɐ], but the MC distinction of unstressed /ɪ/ : /ə/ was maintained in LC, with some individual redistribution.   
Dan
 
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From: spellyans-bounces at kernowek.net [mailto:spellyans-bounces at kernowek.net] 
On Behalf Of Jed Matthews
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 10:27 PM
To: Standard Cornish discussion list
Subject: Re: [Spellyans] tavas in early Middle Cornish
 
A useful distinction is that the y in lebmyn can be both ɨ and ə, but the i in kegin cannot be ə. If the SWF had kegyn, LC speakers might pronounce the y as ə, causing incorrect pronunciation.
 
Jed
 
 
On 13 July 2011 17:14, nicholas williams <njawilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
So the SWF has kelyn 'puppies', but melin 'mill', though they rhyme perfectly.
The SWF has kegin 'kitchen' but megyn 'we smoke' though they are an exact rhyme.
On the other hand the SWF cannot distinguish cost 'coast' from cost 'cost',
nor can it tell pur 'snot' from pur 'pure'. 
 
Etymological spellings are unhelpful.
 
Nicholas
 
 
 
On 2011 Gor 13, at 17:04, Michael Everson wrote:



The "reason" is claimed to be "etymological reconstruction" but as often as not it is just a reflection of distinctions made in Welsh or in Breton, imposed on Cornish by someone who admired those distinctions. 


 
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