Re: Russian vowel <bI>

Peter T. Daniels kirjoitti:

but a linguist might make the mistake of
assuming that the [a] of language L1 is "the same" (in some mysterious
way) as the [a] of language L2.


If L1 and L2 both have the vocalic system /i a u/ (as many languages
do), then the /a/ of L1 is indeed "the same" as the /a/ of L2 (in some
very straightforward way), regardless of the phonetic realizations of
the low vowel.

That's exactly what I meant by "mistake". After abstracting out a phonological system with maximised oppositions like /i a u/, the linguist can easily claim to have found a universal like eg. "every language has a low and a high vowel". Of course: if you first modify the data to suit your intentions, you shouldn't be surprised that is does just that. Phoneticians can only sigh.

This what I find so baffling in linguists: even when they claim to work with "real" language data, they actually add layer after layer of abstractions to it so that in the end what they're studying is just their own theoretical constructions.

--
..... Tommi Nieminen .... http://www.saunalahti.fi/~tommni/ ....
    Csak füvön élt a kis zebra,
    de most rákapott a zabra;
    végül is elvitték Szobra,
    ott oktatják szebbre-jobbra.
       -Devecseri Gábor-
..... tommi dot nieminen at campus dot jyu dot fi ....
.

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