LEDSA derivation

At 12:25 PM 1/27/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>Easy - but you need to invent (sorry: discover) the "voicesless stop
>disappears before sibilant" rule, or something like that.
>1. Ledsa (this needs to be stressed on the 1st syllable)
>2. Le:sa (application of rule above, with ensuing compensatory lengthening
>of preceding vowel)
>3. Leisa (long front vowel becomes paired front vowel glide)
>4. Leis (unstressed final vowel disppears)
>Mike
> >    Anyone have any ideas about how to get from the protoform *LEDSA to the
> > final form _leis_?
   Everyone has come up with this same derivation, which is nice, but it
would make the _ei_ cluster more common than I want, and the long vowel e:
would disappear altogether. Here's what I came up with:

  ledsa
  lejsa (voiced unaspirated stops vocalized before sonants)
  lejs (final vowel weakening)
  leis

   Does this seem realistic to you guys?

   Aidan