Re: The monumental stupidity of PIE theorists further illustrated

Nikolaj wrote:
Paul J Kriha pravi:
Nikolaj wrote:

Anyway, I certainly can not answer those questions. It seems there is
"srnka" (roe deer) in Czech (in Slovene "srnka" would be a nonstandard
diminutive of srna),

In Czech, "srnka" is also a diminutive of "srna", but unlike Slovene
"srnka", it's perfectly standard. It is a straight semantical
diminutive as well as a morphological one.

In Slovene the correct diminutive would be "srnica" (-ica ending). I am
not sure when exactly the "-ka" ending is used - maybe: if the feminine
noun ends in a consonant (pot - potka "path") and when the noun already
ends on "-ca" (raca - račka "duck", ptica - ptička "bird"), but there
might be other cases as well.

but it seems that a sh-sound combined a syllabic r
doesn't exist, at least not in Slovene and Croatian. So I tried taking
the word "šank" and changing the "a" into a syllabic r - and indeed it
is very difficult.

I don't think there are any -šrC- words in Czech either.
However, I wouldn't find -šrC- any more difficult than -srC-.
For example, a two syllable word "šrna" (or "šrnka") would
be just as unremarkable as "srna" (or "srnka").

The "n" in "srna" (or "šrna") is not a velar nasal, it's a dental. Is
the "n" in "šrnka" a velar or is it a dental? Can you say the "r" in the
usual way (for instance as in "prst"), even when the "n" in -nk- is
distinctly pronounced as a velar nasal?

Oh yes, the "n" in Cz "srna" is also dental and the "n" in "srnka"
also sounds quite different, it's a velar nasal, I suppose.
The nasalization isn't phonemic in Czech so it doesn't get
much attention drawn to it in primary/secondary schools.

Re your second question, it seems that the "r"-trill in "srnka" is
not formed by the very tip of the tongue like "r" in "prst".
But the sound difference is only a minor one. The thing one
is likely to notice first is the difference in fundamental frequency.
When I say "prst" and "srnka" in the same declarative sentence,
the "r" in "srnka" tends to be about four or five semitones lower
then in the "r" in "prst".

However, when I say "trnka" (diminutive of sloe), the "r" is the
same as in "prst" (finger), while "r" in "krk" (throat) is like the
one in "srnka". It seems that the vocalization of "r" is more
influenced by leading consonants than following nasals.

pjk

Frk: strč drn, trn, prst skrz krk srnky!
That's eight syllabic "r"s in an eight word sentence :-)

.

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