From cbmvax!uunet!cuvma.bitnet!LOJBAN Fri Feb 7 16:29:31 1992 Return-Path: Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (/\==/\ Smail3.1.21.1 #21.19) id ; Fri, 7 Feb 92 16:29 EST Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA17204; Fri, 7 Feb 92 13:15:29 EST Received: from rutgers.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA23142; Fri, 7 Feb 92 12:04:27 -0500 Received: from cbmvax.UUCP by rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) with UUCP id AA28224; Fri, 7 Feb 92 11:07:04 EST Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA28393; Fri, 7 Feb 92 10:33:34 EST Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU (via uunet.UU.NET) by relay2.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA27201; Fri, 7 Feb 92 10:26:06 -0500 Message-Id: <9202071526.AA27201@relay2.UU.NET> Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.2.1) with BSMTP id 5574; Fri, 07 Feb 92 10:24:27 EST Received: by CUVMB (Mailer R2.07) id 3812; Fri, 07 Feb 92 10:23:55 EST Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1992 15:21:21 +0000 Reply-To: And Rosta Sender: Lojban list From: And Rosta Subject: Re: Buffer vowel and "y" To: John Cowan In-Reply-To: (Your message of Tue, 04 Feb 92 12:08:22 GMT.) <3504.9202051255@ucl.ac.uk Status: RO Colin, quoting Bruce: > > If it were _my_ language, I'd accept Mark's suggestion. In fact, u-umlaut > > is the sound of y in Latin, Finnish, Swedish, and probably other languages > > as well, so it isn't even a strange use of the letter; it's the sound that > > the letter originally stood for in the Latin alphabet. But it isn't my > decision > > to make, and I'll bet Lojbab won't take it. > > I'm inclined to agree. However, you don't need to make it precisely /y/ > (high front rounded). Any high non-back rounded will do. Central high rounded (IPA barred u) might get confused with Lojban /u/. My vowel in _boot_ is pretty central, as in many accents of English, except before /l/. Chris's problems in sussing what [y] is (rounded [i]) suggest that even [y] used for the hyphen might get confused with /u/ by some speakers. Still, as the language presently stands /y/ might get confused with unstressed /a/ by Eng. speakers, so no extra confusion is created by Mark's suggestion. --- And