Re: buffer vowel

[ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>]

Paolo:
> > I'll ask a straightforwarder question: which lgs have Lojban's 7
> > vowel system (taking /%/ to be centred on central [I-])?
> How about Rumanian? I think the Rumanian system is an answer to both
> questions: there is a central middle vowel /@/, written as an "a" with
> a brachia (sometimes with a circumflex), and a central top vowel /+/,
> written as an "i" with circumflex. The other vowels are /a/, /e/, /i/,
> /o/, /u/ (I'm not sure if /E/ and /O/ are also present, but the pairs
> /e/ and /E/, and /o/ and /O/ constitute accepted variants of Lojban
> "e" and "o", anyway).

Do you know whether you can get 7-way minimal pairs (minimal septuples)?
Is there some environment where all 7 vowels contrast, and the full brunt
of the contrast is borne by vowel quality? [Speaking phonologically.]

I have no idea of the answer.

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