FrathWiki:Idle chatter

Forum for random and possibly off-topic discussions. Relays, calls for collaboration, conlangs in the news, the price of PEZ in China...

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Conlang-related chat tends to take place at the ZBB - but you probably already knew that. --Vlad 21:39, 12 Sep 2004 (PDT)

I tend to get my conlang-related chat from mailing lists instead of web boards... actually I don't go by the ZBB at all. Maybe I should check it out? —Muke Tever | ✎ 05:53, 13 Sep 2004 (PDT)

Useless definitions being added, see Linux.definition, PHP.definition, Av.definition.

Deleted. If the contributor wants them back, they can login and explain what relevance they have here. —Muke Tever | ✎ 05:53, 13 Sep 2004 (PDT)

Glottal stop vs. null consonant

What is the difference? Is the null consonant actually an abbreviation of the glottal stop? (By null consonant I mean the "consonant" before the vowel in [a].) Are there languages which exhibit a minimal pair between the two? I know that certain dialects of Japanese have minimal pairs for [pʔi] and [pi] and similar. - 刘 (劉) 振霖 04:46, 17 Sep 2004 (PDT)

I believe that some Polynesian or Pacific languages contrast initial [ʔa] and [a]. I believe in languages that do so the glottal stop is generally more distinctively pronounced than the non-phonemic use of glottal stop in other languages. Alternately to emphasize glottalless [a] one would use a vocalic onglide, such as [ḁa] or [a̯a]. —Muke Tever | ✎ 07:42, 17 Sep 2004 (PDT)