Message-Id: <199511162021.PAA24826@locke.ccil.org>
Date:         Thu, 16 Nov 1995 19:56:42 +0000
Reply-To: ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Subject:      Goran on phonology
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR

> I didn't believe my professor when he told me that Rg Veda is recited
> rather than sung. I said, "But I heard melody!". He said, that's just
> accents. Sama Veda is Rg Veda in song."). AFAIK.

I don't believe it either. A Tamil once sang me some, and I still remember
the tune of the start - I can't write out the notes because I'd need
access to a musical instrument to work it out on, but it sort of reminds
me of Pink Floyd's _The Wall_. Oh yes, and it was different when recited,
e.g. AgnimIlepUrohItam when sung but AgnimIlepUritAm when recited.

> > As I said on the list during the summer (this was in lojban, so it
> > may be noone read it), Nick's voiceless stops all sounded voiced to
> > me (because he doesn't aspirate them),
> .uanai Why should he aspirate the voiceless stops?

My point is not that he should have but that his legitimate failure
to do so caused me quite severe comprehension problems.

> There is nothing in lojban phonology that would imply that aspiration
> has distinctive function.

True, but I'm not sure that that's what was originally intended. I suspect
James Brown, or whoever it was, believed that English p/t/k b/d/g differ
in voicing. Was this design feature really introduced in the knowledge
that it is foreign and very difficult to english ears? I doubt it.

---
And