[lojban] Re: Stress of cmene

[Lionel Vidal <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

Pierre Abbat wrote:

> What is the default stress of cmene that
> * have a diphthong including 'y' in the penult? e.g. maluykon.
> * have a penult with 'y' and no antepenult? e.g. lylun.
> * have 'y' the ult? e.g. kokakolys.
> Are two cmene considered the same if they differ only in stress? If they 
> differ only in whether the stress is written? What about two cmene which 
> differ by a comma, such that the resulting stress is moved? e.g. djeimstaun., 
> djeimsta,un.
>  
As commas are never required (CLL p32), [djeimstaun.] and [djeimsta,un] 
are the same,
whatever default stress you put on them. Hence more generally, to be 
consistent, we should
infer that two cmenes differing only in stress should be the same.
But then, if this conclusion holds, the default stress does not matter 
at all in cmenes :-)
and your first questions need no answers :-)

Nonetheless, as an indication for a reader to pronounce a cmene 
correctly where stress may
matter (let's say in a poem, with stress giving the rythm), I think we 
should strictly follow the
simple rule that all cmenes are by default stressed on the penultimate 
syllable, whatever it is.
I do not see any point in writing syllabic consonants or buffers in 
cmene, and by default all syllables
in cmene should be considered as true syllables. This is consistent with 
point 4 of CLL p.66
In any cases, it is the responsability of the writer to overspecify 
stress if he/she thinks
it matters, when say, a syllable with 'y' will be unusually stressed by 
default.
Thus: maluykon -> malUYkon, lylun -> lYlun, kokakolys -> kokakOlys

Best wishes,
Lionel