[lojban-beginners] vowel length

[m.kornig@sondal.net]

Hello everybody,

I've finished lesson 1.5 of my online e-learning site
http://www.sondal.net/ljb/
and I realize now that the vowels I have recorded so
far have very different lengths.

Consider the vowel {a} for instance: compare {pa}
and {nabil.} on the one hand and {.io,axim.} on the
other. And in my recording of {.anjas.} you find
both the short and the long version in the same
word!

Another striking difference: {ci} and {filip.}.

Vowel lengths are very important in some languages,
e.g. in German. Now I wonder:

(1) Is it important in Lojban, too?

(2) And even if it were not *very* important, would it be
appropiate to habe arbitrarily different vowel lengths
on an e-learning site?

(3) Maybe all vowels should be relatively short in Lojban?

(4) Or at least the vowel of the stressed syllable?

(5) Or may be the other way round, i.e. long vowels in the
stressed syllable?

Martin