Timeline for How many different vowels are there?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
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Dec 17, 2018 at 10:55 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @Luis: the article I linked to says that Danish children do lag behind other nationalities in picking up words (but catch up after a few years). I think around 40 is probably the highest number that can be used in a language without becoming useless for distinguishing words. There is a huge difference between distinguishing between two vowels in controlled conditions in a lab, and distinguishing between two vowels in fast speech on a noisy street. | |
Jun 15, 2018 at 1:37 | comment | added | Luís Henrique | Well, I evidently don't - if that was true, I would expect the Danish to lag behind other peoples in edcuational achievements. It doesn't seem the case. But the question is not "how many vowels are there in the language with most vowels"; it is "how many vowel sounds can a human ear distinguish?" Nothing prevents, that I know, a Danish speaker from "distinguishing" a Portuguese /ã/ as something different from all his native vowels... | |
Jun 15, 2018 at 0:37 | comment | added | Peter Shor | So just give "around 32" as the answer, citing Danish. Or 40, if you believe this article. | |
Jun 8, 2018 at 12:51 | comment | added | Luís Henrique | @jknappen - Then I fear you won't get an actual answer. The possible realisations of vocalic sounds are infinite. The ability of human ear to distinguish between them (and of human mouth to produce them accurately) is limited, but such limit is culture-dependent, so there is little room for discussion besides empirical evidence. | |
Jun 8, 2018 at 10:21 | comment | added | Sir Cornflakes | Although this answer contains valuable information it does not answer my question. I am not interested in maximal attested vowel inventories of documented natural languages (there are good resources to look them up) but in a dissection of the vowel continuum in just distinguishable patches. | |
Jun 8, 2018 at 0:21 | history | edited | Luís Henrique | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 35 characters in body
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Jun 8, 2018 at 0:16 | history | answered | Luís Henrique | CC BY-SA 4.0 |