Re: Case

On Thu, 15 Jul 1999, Josh Brandt-Young wrote:

> It gets really bizarre when you have an /l/ at the end of a word that
> gets "palatalized out of existence" (as Comrie says)...ahem:
>
> copil  = child
> copii  = children
> copiii = the children
>
> Hmm. Three of any letter in a row just gets on my nerves for some reason.
> :)
Try pronouncing the one in the middle as /j/. It's a straightforward
word of three syllables then, [kop'iji].

The underlying form is *copilili; copil "child", -i- "plural marker",
-li "masculine plural definite article".

The indefinite plural is pronounced [kop'i], optionally with a slight
[j] at the end, from *copili.

I also wrote something about that a while ago, even with the same
example (but not as clearly as yours).

   Irina

            Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
                     irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself)
       http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/index.html (English)
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)