Re: 3

> >>But in this case, once again, as a NATIVE speaker, I wanted ONLY
> >>to say to you and to George (that you are not NATIVE speakers
> >>of 'tri')
>
> He _is_, as all Northern Daco-Romanian speakers.
>
> >>that is NO DIPHTONG there...trust me, NO DIPHTONG there, is
> >>all I can say.
>
> ... which leads us to the conclusion you either don't know what
>the diphthong [iy] is and how it sounds like, or you have a very-
>very special way of pronouncing the word, not common for the vast
>majority of native speakers in the area.

"Ai-hai, ma(i) Vasali, / Rupetzi-s'ar arcu'n trii / $i grumazu ceterii"
[aj haj m&(j) V&s&'li - 'rupetzIsar 'arkun trij $I gru'mazu 'ceterij]
(out of the lyrics of a folk song from Maramure$)

> That's my point. Actually, the few spelling problems in Romanian
>arise frequently around number of "i"s to be written at the end or
>even inside the words. People not having well understood differences
>between [i] and [y] are the overwhelming majority and they can argue
>for a long time on a dimension just missing from their awareness,
>fanatically backing some erroneous spelling they think justified.

Yep. <sigh!>

> Marius Iacomi

George