Re: Difference between semivowel and consonant

In article <1166108471.800663.181920@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"ranjit_mathews@xxxxxxxxx" <ranjit_mathews@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Consider a French speaker who uses "computer" rather than "ordinateur".

Would what he says be equally well describable as either [kA.mpyu:tr]
or [kA.mpju:tr] or would it make a difference whether [y] or [j] is
used in the description.

I don't think I quite understand your post. In the IPA, [y] is a
vowel (front, high, round, the sound generally spelled in French with
<u> and in German with <ü>) and [j] is an approximant/glide/semivowel
(front, high, unround, the sound generally spelled in English with
<y>)). They differ in two dimensions: constriction size
(consonantality) and lip rounding.

Some linguists, especially Americans, use [y] to mean IPA [j], with
[j] having no consistent meaning.

What difference are you trying to convey between [y] and [j]?

As for the question in your subject, semivowels, glides, and
approximants are the same thing, and they are usually considered
consonants (but as the semivowel name suggests, they can sometimes
pattern with vowels).

Nathan

--
Nathan Sanders
Linguistics Program
Williams College
http://wso.williams.edu/~nsanders/

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

.

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