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From: mcv@inter.NL.net (Miguel Carrasquer)
Subject: Re: Celtic traces in Portuguese sounds
Message-ID: <CxsypD.H3@inter.NL.net>
Organization: /etc/organization
References: <37mi8s$4qt@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <CxoFFC.2rA@inter.NL.net> <37rlus$2qa@gordon.enea.se>
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 05:46:25 GMT
Lines: 37

In article <37rlus$2qa@gordon.enea.se>,
Erland Sommarskog <sommar@enea.se> wrote:
>Miguel Carrasquer (mcv@inter.NL.net) writes:
> >Open and close [e] and [o] are general Romance, close [e] and
> >[o] being derived from Latin long [e:] and short [i] (long [o:]
> >and short [u]), open [E] and [O] from Latin short [e] and [o].
> >Spanish (and Italian) have lost the distinction ([E]>[ie] and
> >[O]>[uo]>[ue]).  
>
>Italian has both <e> and <E> as well as <o> and <O>. What the
>relations are to the Latin sounds I don't know.

Yes, you're right, Italian in general has maintained the
Vulgar Latin vowel system:

Class.L	    i:  i   e:  e   a:  a   o   o:  u   u:
            |     \/    |     \/    |     \/    |
Vulg.L      i     e     E     a     O     o     u

In most of Southern Italy there's a 5 vowel system, like in Spanish
(but often due to o > u and e > i, so more [a E i O u] than [a e i o u]).
In Tuscany E and O have diphthonguized under the accent, giving iE and 
uO (otherwise maintaining the distinction between e and E, o and O, 
unlike Spanish).

The most interesting language with regards to the Romance distinction
of e/E is of course Catalan, where:

e > E
E > e

to the puzzlement of linguists.

-- 
Miguel Carrasquer         ____________________  ~~~
Amsterdam                [                  ||]~  
mcv@inter.NL.net         ce .sig n'est pas une .cig 
