[tied] Re: Dybo's law

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
> Another thing: Glen brought up the example of Makudoradu, the
> Japanese transcription of McDonald's, which reminded me of the fact
> that the way the Japanese syllabaries are pronounced. The unstressed
> i's palatalise the preceding consonant and then both unstressed i's
> and u's disappea; in other words, they behave like front and back
> jer.

Are you sure that they disappear? They're devoiced between two
voiceless consonants, or between a voiceless consonant and a
pause, but even in those positions they still make for separate
syllables, do they not?

Have I misunderstood Japanese phonology, or just your meaning?

David