English /h/ and /N/.

--- At http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/22698 , Piotr
Gasiorowski <piotr.gasiorowski@i...> wrote:

> To use a real-life example, English /h/ and /N/
> ("ng") are in complementary distribution, but no-one has ever

dreamt of

> simplifying the system by assigning them to the same phoneme.

Actually, that idea can be scotched for those English idiolects which
distinguish <lock>, <loch> and <long>. In these cases, the final
consonant of <loch> is best analysed as /h/ even if it is [x].
Syllable final /h/ may get re-inforcement from Moslem names such
as 'Rahman'.

Richard.