Message-Id: <199511191953.OAA04875@locke.ccil.org>
Date:         Sun, 19 Nov 1995 16:00:00 +0000
Reply-To: ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Subject:      Re: Goran on phonology
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR

Jorge
> Goran & And:
> > > 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.
> Spanish distinguishes them by fricating (or whatever) b/d/g rather than by
> aspirating p/t/k. If voicedness is not enough I don't see why the English
> method should be the preferred one. :)

I'm not proposing it be made easier for anglophones. I just raised this
as an unforeseen difficulty and one that remains relatively unnoticed
due in part to a failure to consider matters phonological from a hearer's
perspective. But it's worth bearing in mind that most anglophone lojbanists
are probably often saying /p t k/ when they think theyre saying /b d g/
- maybe this is a case where Lojbab's "say whatever you like, as long
as you make all phonemes distinct" rule has to be relied on.

---
And