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Re: Sidestepping Spelling Reform

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 28, 2004, 16:01
Quoting Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>:

> Quoting David Zitzelsberger <DavidZ@...>: > > > I don't know how accurate this is but > > > > http://www.zompist.com/kitlong.html#phono claims that "English goes as far > > as (s) + (C) + (r, l, w, y) + (V) + V + (C) + (C) + (C): sprite, thinks." > > > > If this is acurracte and I figure > > S is about 6 (f, v, th/th, s, z, sh/zh). I'm not including both th > > because they don't seem to change the meaning of a word for me. Same for > sh > > verses zh. > > That (s) - notice lowercase - is one; only /s/ can occur first in English > syllable-initial clusters.
"... of three consonants", it should have said! Andreas
> And, of course, not all clusters suggested by the > above scheme are allowed - we don't get /snr-/ or the like. > > Still, the number of legit English syllables is high - several thousand. > > Do anyone know what lang has the highest number, and what that number might > be? I figure Georgian might be a strong contender! > > Same for smallest number of syllables - some Polynesian lang, perhaps? > > Andreas >