'Nother question on phonology. :)
I was wondering your opinion on the Gaulish phonology proposed by
Christopher Gwinn at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/continentalceltic/message/2517
(I am particularly curious about the vowels.)
For those not subscribed to that group, it reads:
"
I am afraid that my old Gaulish pronunciation guide was _very_
conjectural, as well as being rather simplistic - especially in
regards to vowels. Perhaps some listmembers could look could look
over the following and make some suggestions of their own (note that
I am using American English examples here, which I suppose makes a
big difference when it comes to vowels - I could definitely use some
help in this section).
OCCLUSIVES:
p - as in English
b - as in English - may be susceptible to lenition, sometimes confused
with -m- in writing
t - as in English
d - as in English
c - always hard |k| sound, as in English "cat"
g - always hard |g| sound, as in English "go"
SPIRANTS:
x - as in English, or as in Greek X, Scottish -ch- ("Loch")
SIBILANTS:
s - always soft, as in English "sass", also a variant spelling of
Gaulish
Tau.
ts / st - as in English "lots" / "steer". Called the "Gaulish Tau".
It was
spelled a variety of ways,
including -dd-, -ss-, -s-, -d-, -ts-, -st-, -z-, -d-, and -dd-.
SONANTS:
m - as in English, may be susceptible to lenition, sometimes confusion
with -b- in writing
n - as in English
r - perhaps heavier than the English -r-, and maybe trilled.
l - as in English
SEMIVOWELS
i - as in English "you"
u - as in English "well"
SHORT VOWELS
a - as in "cup"
e - as in "fell"
i - as in "pit"
o - as in "rot:
u - as in "foot"
LONG VOWELS
a: - as in "father"
e: - as in "made"
i: - as in "feel"
o: - as in "road"
u: - as in "rude"
DIPHTHONGS
au - as in "house"
ou / eu -
ai [ae / e:] -
ei -
oi [oe] -
The Occlusives and the Sonants were subject to Gemination.
- Chris Gwinn
"
Thanks again,
Lisa