Re: [tied] Consonant-verb regularities

From: petegray
Message: 4870
Date: 2000-11-26

We may learn the rules of syllables in languages such as Japanese, but how
well are these rules expressed in actual speech?

My question comes from my experience of Maori, where the syllable rules
demand open syllables in all cases, and the literature refuses to
acknowledge anything but open syllabes. But in actual speech, one often
hears closed syllables. One well known example is the name Karaiti
(Christ), pronounced /karait'/ or even /k@...'/.

Of course this /-t'/ can be analysed as a surface representation of an
underlying final /-ti/, but I think that misses the point.

How far do syllable "rules" in other languages actually represent surface
speech?

Peter