Message-Id: <m0tCyS9-0000ZTC@xiron.pc.helsinki.fi>
Date:         Tue, 7 Nov 1995 20:02:31 +0000
Reply-To:     ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Sender:       Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From:         ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Subject:      buffer vowel
To:           Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
Content-Length: 1908
Lines: 55

I haven't yet got myself sufficiently technologically organized to obtain
the phonology papers, but if comments are being urgently solicited, I
shall point out that the definition of the buffer vowel is too unnatural
to work. This is an area in which the language is broken. The baseline
on phonology is therefore violable.

Vowel phonemes expand to occupy as much territory as possible until they
bump into territory of other phonemes. Ignoring the buffer vowel, the
space is carved up pretty much as follows:

 hi f2              lo f2  lo f1
  __________________
  |        |       |
  |    I   |    U  |
  |________|_______|
  |     |     |    |
  |  E  |  @  | O  |
  |_____|_____|___ |
    \             /
      \    A    /
        \_____/              hi f1


There is no spare space to fit in the buffer vowel. If you want an
extra vowel, you must give it its own space. The best place to find
extra space is between I and U:

 hi f2              lo f2  lo f1
  ___________________
  |     |     |     |
  |  I  |  Y  |  U  |
  |_____|_____|_____|
  |     |     |     |
  |  E  |  @  |  O  |
  |_____|_____|_____|
    \             /
      \    A    /
        \_____/              hi f1

The solution involving least change from the status quo is to put
the buffer vowel in Y, but that is pretty ghastly.
In languages with something akin to a buffer vowel, e.g. Arabic,
it is almost always in the grey, central, neutral @ space. Y, the
alternative choice, is a relatively marked and phonologically complex
sound. If Lojban still needs 7 vowels, the buffer shd be in @, and
/y/ in Y. But all in all, it would be simplest to remove the distinction
between buffer and /y/, and go for the 6 vowel system shown in the
first diagram.

I used to use [y] as buffer vowel, but it sounded too weird. I
reckon people wouldn't get used to [mylatu zybasu syteSi sumyti]
for {mlatu, zbasu, steci, sumti}.

---
And