Re: Dipthongs and other things (was Re: Arrghhhh!!!! and aSummaryof         What has Gone Before)
Saul Epstein 
Tue, 2 Dec 1997 08:13:14 -0600

From: Marketa J Zvelebil <marketa*harrier,ludwig,ucl,ac,uk>
Date: Tuesday, December 02, 1997 2:50 AM

>[Saul wrote:]
>
>> That's just my take on this business of what guides my feeling of
>> what "sounds" Vulcan. In addition, I keep in mind that Marketa finds
>> in the language so far a high degree of "music," though I'm not
>> exactly sure what that means. ;-)
>
>I just want to put accros that it is not an ugly language as can be seen
>from the poem:
>
>Kh'liorah brax
>Niorah brax -
>Kahs'khiori th'thay
>
>which has to be read in certain rythm and tonality.
>Unfortunetly this doesn not come accros in e-mail :)

Yes. Which I think means that I probably do understand what you mean, but
that I can't verbalize it any better. It's just that... one of the first
general principles I was taught, perhaps second only to "Language is regular
but arbitrary," could be stated as "There are no ugly languages." (Natural
ones, that is.) But if I had to put more words to what I feel about Vulcan,
they would be something to the effect that it should flow without being all
swishy. (I can hear my professors shrieking...)

And we will have to work out the stress rules, probably before or while we
elaborate the vowel phonology.

--
from Saul Epstein
liberty*uit,net
http://www,johnco,cc,ks,us/~sepstein
"Surak ow'phaaper thes'hi thes'tca'; thes'phaadjar thes'hi suraketca'."
                                        -- K'dvarin Urswhl'at