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Conceded. I'd assumed you were trying to figure out if English really had about as complicated a phonology as Navajo, and fiddling about with dropping phonemes
by lolinder 2y ago
Conceded.
I'd assumed you were trying to figure out if English really had about as complicated a phonology as Navajo, and fiddling about with dropping phonemes isn't a useful approach for that because you could apply it to Navajo just as easily if you knew Navajo. If you get American English down to 35 I'd assume you could also get Navajo down to 40 by the same processes.
But yes, you can drop phonemes and be understood from other context as long as there is other context (which there usually is).
- philwelch 2y agoI don't know if you could get Navajo down by the same amount though. English speakers are accustomed to dealing with a wide variety of dialects so the language is clearly well adapted to sloppy and inconsistent phonology. Is the same true of Navajo, or are Navajo speakers accustomed to a more limited and consistent set of dialects? I don't know and I'm not really trying to argue a point here, it's just something to ponder.