From: Jim Allan (jallanite@rogers.com)
Date: Tue May 20 2008 - 22:23:31 CDT
Kenneth Whistler wrote:
> Jim,
>
>> I did not mean that they were necessarily "combining marks", because they
>> are effectively spacing, ... But they may still be considered as
>> combining marks, because ...
>
> Arguing with Philippe on the list can be frustrating. He tends
> to make it up as he goes along. ;-)
Yes. His declaration that ʾaleph and ʿayin are not pronounceable in
isolation is amazing. ʾAleph is as pronounceable in isolation as any
voiceless plosive, that is, hardly at all; but one doesn’t claim that p,
t, and k are therefore not full letters. And ʿayin is as pronounceable
in isolation as any other fricative.
Jim Allan
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