Re: THEORY: Semivowels

Tom:

>Interesting... what English words do you pronounce with [j_0]? I've neve=
r
>heard of it.
(Yes I am aware this post wasn't directed toward me) I hear that sound in=
=20
some variants of words beginning with a "hy"-sound, like "huge" (especial=
ly=20
with emphasis), Houston...

>Also, I tend to have problems pronouncing palatals, so I usually pronoun=
ce
>Spanish <=F1> (n-tilde) by nasalizing the previous vowel and using [j]=20
>instead
>of the palatal nasal; thus <a=F1o> [a~jo] rather than the correct
>pronunciation of [aJo]. It sounds pretty much the same to me though.
>In my conlang Dhakrathat, nasalized vowels before the semivowels cause t=
he
>semivowels to be nasalized too, causing them later to change to nasals,=20
>i.e.
>/a~w/ -> /aw~/ -> /am/, /a~j/ -> /aj~/ -> /aJ/.
In Tech they do that too, but only if the semivowel is not followed by=20
another vowel.  That in effect makes it a nasalized diphthong.  Same goes=
=20
for pharyngealized vowels.

Example: a~ja > [a~ja], but a~jt > [ai)~t], a~j# > [ai)~]

In fact, any nasal vowel followed by a glide of some sort (i.e. j, w, r, =
l=20
etc.) nasalizes the consonant!  Ever heard a nasalized rhotic trill?  (An=
d=20
does this exist in any languages?)

Danny

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