Re: Cybalist Phonetic Alphabet: A Modest Proposal [long]

Hello Piotr,
On the final version of CPA, please add examples of that sounds in
different language as you do very well in :

> [n'] = predorsal ("palatal") nasal (French or Italian <gn>)
> [l'] = predorsal ("palatal") lateral (Italian <gl>, Castilian <ll>)

Thanks a lot for this,
marius alexandru

P.S. This could also lead in the future to a complete set of sounds
existing for each language at differents historical stages, (if you
could do it for Albanian inside the Albanian presentation will be a
great help for me). Thanks again.




--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:

> I am going to post, in several instalments, a history of Albanian
> consonants from PIE to Modern Albanian. I'll probably polish it off
> after any discussion that may ensue and upload it to our Files area

for

> convenient reference. Most books on Indo-European (at least those
> published in English) just acknowledge the existence of Albanian

without

> providing any details of its history. Beekes's appendix devoted to
> Albanian sound changes is a mess; so is the table accompanying the
> article on Albanian in the Encyclopaedia of Indo-European Culture.
>
> While working on it, I found it necessary to adopt a consistent

system

> of phonetic transcription, especially because of the numerous
> palatalisations, affrications and spirantisations that had to be
> described (SAMPA is too clumsy for this particular purpose). The

system

> -- let's call it CPA (short for the Cybalist Phonetic Alphabet) --

is

> laid out below (or at least its consonantal section is; I'll do the
> vowels and suprasegmentals later). It's as consistent with the
> time-honoured practice of this list as I could make it. It may come

in

> handy when we discuss some other groups of languages, such as
> Indo-Iranian, Balto-Slavic or, say, Tocharian, where different

shades of

> coronal articulation have to be distinguished. Standard Albanian
> orthography will be used for Modern Albanian words, and I'll employ

a a

> conventional notation for PIE, but all intermediate reconstructions

will

> consistently be given in CPA.
>
> ==================================================
>
> PRELIMINARY NOTES: TECHNICAL TERMS AND PHONETIC SYMBOLS
>
> ==================================================
>
> 1. PHONETIC DESCRIPTION
>
> ----------
>
> 1.1. In the production of coronal and dorsal consonants the active
> articulator is the tongue, divided into the following segments:
>
> - The tip and the blade
>
> There is no universally accepted cover term for all consonants
> articulated with the front part of the tongue. I suggest MARGINAL
> (MARGINO- when used in compound terms), from Lat. margo: 'edge'.
> Depending on the precise configuration of the tongue tip and blade,
> marginal articulations can be subdivided into APICAL, LAMINAL and
> SUBAPICAL (= "retroflex"), but in many languages these features are

not

> distinctive. (They will not play any significant role in the

discussion

> of Albanian.)
>
> - The PREDORSAL segment (the middle of the tongue)
> - The DORSAL segment (the back part of the tongue)
>
> ----------
>
> 1.2. The roof of the mouth is divided into the following zones

("places

> of articulation"):
>
> - DENTAL
> - ALVEOLAR
>
> When the distinction between the dental and alveolar zones can be
> ignored, the cover term ANTERIOR will be used.
>
> - POSTALVEOLAR (regarded as synonymous with "prepalatal")
> - PALATAL
> - VELAR
> - UVULAR
>
> ==================================================
>
> 2. TRANSCRIPTION
>
> ----------
>
> 2.1. I shall use the following symbols for the "basic" coronal

obstruents.

>
> [t], [d] (stops)
> [T], [D] (non-sibilant or "wide" fricatives = [þ], [ð])
> [s], [z] (sibilant or "narrow" fricatives)
> [c], [3] (affricates)
>
> If they occur without diacritics, they can all be defined as
> margino-anterior (ignoring the apical/laminal and dental/alveolar
> distinctions). In each pair the first sound is voiceless and the

second

> voiced. >).
>
> The following diacritics will be used to modify the values of the

basic

> symbols:
>
> [^] = margino-postalveolar ("palatoalveolar")
> ['] = predorso-postalveolar ("alveopalatal") or predorso-alveolar
>
> The symbols are chosen so that irrelevant distinctions can be

ignored.

> Note that affricates are transcribed as single characters, not as
> combinations of stop and fricative symbols.
>
> For example, [c^] stands for a voiceless affricate similar to

English

> <ch> (lamino-postalveolar) or to Polish <cz> (apico-postalveolar).
> Should it be necessary to distinguish between laminal and non-

laminal

> articulations, the diacritic [,] can be used for the latter (e.g.

for a

> "retroflex" series: [s,], [t,], etc.). [s'] may stand for a

voiceless

> predorso-postalveolar fricative, like those that occur in Polish,
> Sanskrit and Chinese (spelt <x>).
>
> ----------
>
> 2.2. I shall use the following symbols for the "basic" dorsal

obstruents:

>
> [k], [g] (stops)
> [x], [G] (fricatives)
>
> If not accompanied by diacritics, they stand for dorso-velar sounds.
>
> The following diacritics can be used to modify the values of the

basic

> symbols:
>
> ['] = dorso-palatal
> [_] = dorso-uvular
>
> For example, [k_] stands for a voiceless dorso-uvular stop (= IPA

q),

> and [x'] for a dorso-palatal fricative as in German <nicht> [= IPA

ç].

>
> Note that the exact interpretation of ['] is slightly different in

the

> case of coronals and dorsals, but in either case the diacritic

indicates

> an articulation that involves a continous area of the root of the

mouth

> (from the back of the alveolar ridge to the hard palate) and the

body of

> the tongue, i.e. its predorsal to dorsal segments. The transition

from

> [k'] to [t'] (= Hungarian <ty>) or from [x'] to [s'] is therefore
> continuous. Dorso-palatal and predorsal stops tend to undergo
> affrication, hence the frequent development of palatal [k'] into

[c']

> (and then into [c^] or [c], or into the corresponding fricatives

[s'],

> [s^] or [s]).
>
> ----------
>
> 2.3. Some other sounds
>
> [N] = (dorso-)velar nasal (English <ng>)
> [R] = dorsal rhotic (velar or uvular approximant, uvular trill)
> [n'] = predorsal ("palatal") nasal (French or Italian <gn>)
> [l'] = predorsal ("palatal") lateral (Italian <gl>, Castilian <ll>)
> etc.
> [h] = glottal approximant/fricative (English <h>)
> [?] = glottal stop
>
> ----------
>
> 2.4. Other diacritics (always written after the basic symbol)
>
> [W] = labialisation (especially in the form of lip-rounding)
> ['] = palatalisation (with symbols other than those mentioned so

far)

> [/] = velarisation (e.g. [l/] for a "dark" lateral)
> [H] = aspiration (including breathy voiced phonation)
> [.] = syllabicity of consonants
> [:] = length
>
> ==================================================
>
> 3. TABLE OF SYMBOLS
>
> anterior --postalveolar--- palatal

velar uvular

> labial ---------coronal---------- ---------dorsal-----

----

> ---marginal---- predorsal
>
> stops p b t d t' d' k' g' k g

k_ g_

>
> fricatives f v T D x' G' x G

x_ G_

>
> (sibil.) s z s^ z^ s' z'
>
> affricates c 3 c^ 3^ c' 3'
>
> nasals m n n' N
>
> laterals l l'
>
> rhotics r R
>
> semivowels w j (w)
>
>
> ==================================================
>
>
> Questions and comments welcome.
>
> Piotr