Zompist Bboard Again

I was thinking about how, for me, the acceptability of the definite article before a language name varies by context. "You must read Virgil in the original Latin" and " ambulance derives from the Latin ambulāre " both sound fine to me, but "you must read Virgil in the Latin&...

げぃこぅよぅ /ɣekojo/ Consonants: (with the vowel /a/) /(p) t k/ ＜ぱ　た　か＞ /ᵐb ⁿd ᶮdʒ ᵑg/ ＜んば　んだ　んじゃ　んが＞ /m n ɲ ŋ/ ＜ま　な　にゃ　んな＞ /ɾ~ɾ̥~r~ɹ~l/ ＜ら＞ /ɸ~β~f~v ð ʃ ɣ h/ ＜ば　だ　しゃ　が　は＞ /w j/ ＜わ・うぁ　や＞ Vowels: /i e ɛ u o ɔ a/ +length ＜い　えぃ　え　う　おぅ　お　あ＞ ＜いい　ええぃ　ええ　うう　おおぅ　おお　ああ＞ Sample text /neᵑgomoɣaneɾa kaɾoɣanɔ || kaɾ...

As I've mentioned here before, a lot of Japanese speakers seem to have k > q /_a at least in certain informal contexts

edit: also apparently Multicultural London English

According to wikipedia, some Somali dialects reflect standard /q/ as /x/. It looks like this claim comes from Saeed (1993), which I don't have access to, but the article cites another paper, Gabbard (2010), which claims that q > ʁ / V_V allophonically. From there you could easily get to [h]. Also, a...

Does anyone know of any papers on alternation of adpositions between pre- and postpositions? When I say 'alternation' I mean that very broadly, either diachronically or synchronically.

As always, the best album by one of my favorites bands: Yet-Kha - Yenisei Punk . I've also been listening to a bunch of ryūkōka lately, especially this song, 上海の波止場 by Isao Hayashi. edit: something is wrong with the bbcode for these links but I'm not sure how to fix it Fixed. You don't put the link...

As always, the best album by one of my favorites bands: Yet-Kha - Yenisei Punk. I've also been listening to a bunch of ryūkōka lately, especially this song, 上海の波止場 by Isao Hayashi.

edit: something is wrong with the bbcode for these links but I'm not sure how to fix it

I'm starting with an inventory of sibilants (fricatives and affricates) that has a three way contrast between alveolar, retroflex, and alveolo-palatal series. What are some interesting things I can do with the alveolo-palatals to get rid of them, without just merging them unilaterally into one of th...

In an inventory that already has /z ʒ ʑ/, how plausible does dʒ dʑ > ʒ ʑ without dz > z look?

Min Nan with a (fairly nonsensical) Greco-Romance flair: Initials /p pʰ b t tʰ ts tsʰ k kʰ g/ <b p mb d t nd gi~g ci~c g~gh c~ch ng> /m n ŋ/ <m n gn~gnh> /s dz~z h̃ h/ <s z j> /l/ <l> Where romanizations are given in pairs, the latter is used before <i e>, and the former is used elsewhere. Finals (r...

Does any language (that allows word final consonants) delete vowels in final syllables across the board, regardless of whether the syllable is open or closed?

/ɹ ɹʲ~j l ɣ ʕ ɦ/ Any particular reason why /ɣ/ is listed with the approximants? (Morpho)phonologically it behaves like one, and is historically derived from one. It's phonologically basically /ɰ/. EDIT: Also, another question: will the main allophone of /ɹʲ~j/ be /ɹʲ/ or /j/? I'm not quite sure yet...

From an actual conlang of mine (with working title "west island liturgical"), instead of just a phonological sketch. I really can't figure out a good way to romanize it though. /p t tʲ tˤ tɬ tʃ k q ʔ/ /f s sʲ sˤ ɬ x ħ/ /ɹ ɹʲ~j l ɣ ʕ ɦ/ /m n nʲ nˤ/ /i iː ɨ uː/ /ɪɛ o ʊɔ/ /a aː/ /ɨ˞ ɨ˞ː a˞ a˞...

On the theme of alternate ways to express possession, Japanese does it with an intransitive verb meaning "to exist" (maybe that barely counts as a different word category, but still): Gorō wa boushi ga aru Gorō TOP hat NOM exist.IPFV "Gorō has a hat" Also, a number of things that...

Nortaneous wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 3:10 pm NP > M

Nortaneous wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 7:59 pm 3a) nasal + plosive sequences coalesce into nasals at the plosive's POA (so *nt *nd > *nt̪ *nd > n̪ n)

Well that's a clever notation. I don't know that I've ever seen that before.

I have a rule where phonation spreads forwards in consonant clusters for all clusters, e.g. akda→akta, iɹkə→iɹgə. Is this plausible? If so, then what should happen to consonants like /ʔ/, /ɹ/, /m/, /l/, which may not have a voiced or voiceless counterpart in the language? (I know that I could just ...

How plausible is debuccalization of voiceless coda stops to [ʔ] only in post-vocalic position? So [pot] > [poʔ] but [post] > [post].

I'm particularly curious how the neutral tones interact with tone persistence, if present. What’s ‘tone persistence’? I looked it up and couldn’t find anything… Tone persistence is when tones exhibit the properties of independent phonological units, not bound to particular syllables. For example, y...

Can anyone recommend any reading on tone systems where a large number (perhaps the majority) of syllables are neutral tone? I think such systems exist. I'm particularly curious how the neutral tones interact with tone persistence, if present.

Suppose a language has rhythmic stress, and unfooted syllables are fairly common. Is there any tendency for vowels in the weak syllable of a foot to reduce more than do vowels in unfooted syllables? To reduce less? Could foot-type make a difference? (My thought is that with iambic feet you relative...