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[lojban-beginners] Re: More phonology: voiced/unvoiced and fricative/fricative

m.kornig@sondal.net schrieb:

Selon Klaus Schmirler <KSchmir@online.de>:


Now there's a whole bunch of xr words:

xrabo Arabic
xrani injure
xriso Christian
xruba buckwheat
xruki turkey
xrula flower
xruti return


I find {xr} hard to pronounce (even though I've a German
palate, too).


They taste best to my German palate when I pronounce them with an
initial ach sound and then just add voicing. And I think one of the
design principles (which admittedly I haven't found, or I'd have cited
it above) was that sounds should be maximally distinct. So does [xR]
count as maximally distinct - if so, I rest my case - or is the uvular
r forbidden in this context?
I don't know the term "uvular r".
I mean the variety used in the middle altitudes of Germany and the north of France (and that supposedly spread from the French court with I don't remember which king, like the Spanish th and the English eyether - from the other respective courts, I mean). 

But generally I agree

the the Lojban phonetic rules seem to be a bit arbitrary.


I sometimes wonder about the
common distinction between vowels and consonants.
And consequently about the necessity to have a
classical vowel sound in each word and/or syllable.

For instance why are words like {c}, {f}, {pst}, {m}
{kj}, {pc} or {gr} fobidden in Lojban?

I have no difficulties in pronouncing them,
even relatively loud! Some languages have sounds like
that, e.g. German, although you might not find them
in traditional dictionaries... Here are some words I
sometimes use:
These should be covered by attitudinals, but I find it hard to translate my ingrained attitudinals to other languages. My German "aha" quite innocuosly means "I see", and because I see a lot, I use it a lot. Many English speakers tend to take it as "Caught ya!" and feel unduly monitored. I know that, I can explain it, but I can't switch off my aha reflex. 



{pst} means "Listen, but don't make much noice!".
{m} means "Maybe." or "I'm not entirely convinced."


.iacu'i


    or "Very nice!" or "I'm surprised!" (depending on
    length and melody).
{c} means "Be quiet!" or "Shut up!".
for "Don't let others hear it" maybe .i'inai, which would cover the same meaning of pst, too 


{gr} means "I don't like your suggestion at all.".


le'o(?)


{f} means "I'm tired."


tired of something? .u'inai



Martin