Re: Vulcan Word Generator (VWG) trials and tribulations
Steven Boozer 
Thu, 25 Mar 1999 15:20:49 -0600

Rob Z. wrote:

: I also noted that a couple of words in the dictionary used a: and e:, and I
: was noting that our new list of vowels  we agreed on (during the great 
: phonetic reformation :) only has these: 
: 	i      bIt-bEAt
: 	u      pOOl
: 	e      bEt-bAit
: 	o      bOtch-bOUGHt
: 	a      bUtter
: 	aa/ah  bArter
: 	y      bUY, trY, sAI
: So what should we convert those a:'s and e:'s into?

Although all this was discussed to death a few months ago, I think we
should avoid diacritics and punctuation-looking signs like /:/ if possible.

Refresh my memory, I've forgotten where we left the approved transcription.
 (Marketa did approve it, yes?)  What's the difference between e/e:/ei/ey
and aa/ah/a:/ae in Marketa's pronunciation?  

: a:
: kah-ru
: kah-hir
: kahr-y-tan
: kahs'-khio-ri
: kahs'-wan

ah, kahru, kah'hir (kahhir), kahrytan (is it kahr-AI-tan, kahr-I-tan or
kahr-EE-tan?), kahs'khiori (kahs'khiyori?), kahs'wan

: kae
: kae'-at
: kae'-k'-ak-ka-yam

What is /ae/?  "cAt"?  Or is this two separate vowels: /a-e/ or /ah-eh/?

: kre-nath

krenath

As for /e/, bEt and bAIt are quite different, at least by me.  If it works
the way I think, I like /e/ for bEt and /eh/ for bAIt.  

: ur-sev-eh
: va'-ne:

ur-seveh, va'neh

/eh/ and /e:/ are the same vowel?  

: krey-la
: se-heik

kreila, seheik -or- kreyla, seheyk

/ey/ and /ei/ are the same diphthong?
: ka-li-fee
: qo-mee
: shi-ka'-ree

/ee/ as in thIEf & bEAt, right?  We're using /i/ for both bIt and bEAt?
How about /ih/ for bIt and /i/ for bEAt?

kalihfi, qomi, shihka'ri

Hmm... perhaps a positional variant: final, stressed /i/ is pronounced long? 

kalifi, qomi, shika'ri

: kai-idth
: lai-la-ra
: nai-la-ra
: rel-dai

kyidth (ky'idth), lylara, nylara, reldy (yech! reldai looks better)

Can we retain /ai/ or /ay/, at least for word finals?



_____________________________________________________________________ 
Steven Boozer   University of Chicago Library   s-boozer*uchicago,edu