marking diaresis and accent

[john]

I did try suggestion one symbol for each function. They didn't like
it. They need something to hold onto phonologically. It's a little
surprising because the Nuers their neighbors have accepted the idea of
using / to indicate negation on an auxiliary, which is also related to
tone. 

Best wishes, 

John 

On 03.09.2012 23:11, Mike Cahill wrote:


> Well, worth a shot, anyhow. Conceptually, it's like marking a
question with a question mark. Presumably each of these contexts should
have a different symbolization. Just out of curiosity, did you try that,
or was your suggestion one symbol to cover all these?
> 
> Mike
> 
>
-----Original Message-----
> From: funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu
[mailto:funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] On Behalf Of john
> Sent:
Monday, September 03, 2012 11:24 AM
> To:
funknet at mailman.rice.eduSubject: Re: [FUNKNET] marking diaresis and
accent
> 
> Believe me, I've tried this idea. This was in fact my
initial idea and I only gave it up because I was unable to convince the
Dinkas to do this. The specific contexts are: 
> 
> (1) 2nd person
subject past and
> future auxiliary verbs (to distinguish from 1st
person subject forms).
> 
> (2) 2nd person subject inflections on the
verbs (to distinguish them from passives) 
> 
> (3) The distal
demonstrative (as opposed to the proximal demonstrative), and 
> 
> (4)
The 'Non-Topical Subject'
> construction, in which OVS rather than SVO
order is used (this is distinct from the passive, where there is either
no agent or the agent is preceded by a preposition). 
> 
> They have a
much easier time
> conceptualizing marking tone in these contexts rather
than marking the contexts themselves. They regard marking the contexts
as somehow unnatural. 
> 
> Best wishes, 
> 
> John 
> 
> On 03.09.2012
18:12, Mike Cahill
> wrote:
> 
>> Yes, there's font solutions that can
combine diacritics, but
> 
> crucially, for any solution to be used, it
must have buy-in by the actual users. It's good that the Dinka (at least
some of them) see the need - that's a huge step.
> 
>> I think there may
be a totally
> 
> different approach possible here, since you're talking
about "a limited number of contexts (specifically high tone in specific
grammatical contexts which are always associated in high tone in all
forms and all dialects)." So far, everyone has focused on the
phonetically high tone, and how to mark it, localizing the tone mark on
that particular vowel.
> Another possibility, since you're talking about
a grammatical construction, is to mark that particular grammatical
construction. Once the Dinka know that it's that construction, then they
will pronounce it the way that construction is pronounced.
>
funknet-bounces at mailman.rice.edu] On Behalf Of john To: Claire Bowern
Cc: Pamela 
> 
> Munro; funknet at mailman.rice.eduSubject:Re: [FUNKNET]
marking diaresis and accent
> Department of
> 
>> 
> 
>> 
> 
>> 
> 
>>