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Re: [lojban-beginners] Lojban phonetics



On Saturday 07 August 2010 11:36:35 Alexander Simard wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> A few days ago, I learned about the lojban language, and thought it
> was the coolest thing ever. I am now determined to become completely
> fluent.
>
> I am confused by the phonetics, however.
>
> I have read this page http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?LojbanPronunciation
> to understand the phonetics of lojban, but I am still confused by the
> phonemes of several letters. I was hoping this group could clear up my
> questions. Is there anywhere a definitive and correct guide to
> pronounciation? the letters a, o, r, s, t, x and y still confuse me.
>
> Thanks to anyone who reads or answers to this for your time and help.

One can be completely fluent in a language despite a noticeable accent, and 
having attended a few jbonunsla, I know there's a variety of accents among 
Lojban speakers. I know a man from Brazil who came to the US at the age of 5 
and learned Spanish as an adult. Spanish and Portuguese are almost identical 
grammatically and share much vocabulary, so it didn't take him long to become 
fluent; but he often doesn't roll "rr", nasalizes vowels, and sometimes mixes 
words in the two languages.

My own pronunciation is like this: a, o, s, and t are as in Spanish. (My 
mother is from El Salvador, so I know a fair bit of Spanish.) r is also as in 
Spanish when in any environment that occurs in Spanish, except that Lojban 
doesn't distinguish r from rr (Spanish does, but only between vowels), so 
in "slari" it may be rolled, but is normally tapped. y is a schwa, and the 
vowel in "run" I'd take as y too. The allophone of o is unrounded o, which 
isn't in my phoneme inventory.

r between consonants or next to x, and x, are a bit more complicated. 
In "fonxa" I pronounce the n as ŋ, and the x as [ç], resulting in [fɔŋça]. 
[ç] cannot be mistaken for /h/, which occurs only between vowels. rx I 
pronounce as two distinct sounds, but xr as a simultaneous uvular-lingual 
trill which starts being voiced partway through. (le xruki le ginxre xrixruba 
xu xrula cu xrani?) In the contrived word "rirxrxrazdani" (is a certain river 
in Armenia), I keep the same simultaneous trill, switching the voice on and 
off. Vocalic r in other environments (e.g. fiprgado, but not spatrxapio) I 
pronounce pretty much as in English "butterfly". In "spatrxapio" the r comes 
out as a single tap (as in Spanish tres) followed by ʑ used as a vowel.

The online version of the Book uses characters that don't look like IPA, 
unless you're using a certain font, which I don't have.

Pierre
-- 
When a barnacle settles down, its brain disintegrates.
Já não percebe nada, já não percebe nada.

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