On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 11:12:41 +0000, Michael Everson wrote: > > At 02:50 -0800 2004-02-04, Peter Kirk wrote: > > >As for Birmingham, I like the idea of analysing > >it as a monosyllable [b?m��m] although I would > >tend to think of the eng and the second m as > >syllabic, but there is then a near minimal pair > >with the interjection [mhm] meaning "no". > > [mhm] is a positive for me. It is [m?m] which is negative.
Hmm, my 2 1/2 year old dauhter is going through a stage of saying "mm mm" (rising tone on first syllable) for "yes" and "mm mm" (falling tone on first syllable) for "no", which is a very subtle distinction, especially as in Mandarin Chinese "m" rising tone is an interrogative grunt and "m" falling tone is an affirmaive grunt. Andrew
