Re: Sound Change Susceptibility

Steg Belsky scripsit:

> /m/ and /n/ seem to be very malleable in non-initial position, though;
> think about all the Latinate prefixes |in-|, |im-|, etc, where in
> different languages it can be /m/, /n/, /N/, (or others?) depending on
> the following sound.
In Latin already the underlying form is /in/, but the /n/ assimilates to the
following consonant.  If it is /l/ or /r/, we get full assimilation and the
nasal character disappears, as in the English borrowings "illiterate" and
"irresponsible".  Otherwise, it is assimilated to the place of articulation,
although the orthography indicates this only in the case of labials, where
it becomes "im", as in "impossible".  Before velars we know that it became [N]
as in "incompatible".

Italian, and probably also Latin though we can't be sure, even assimilates
"in" to a labiodental nasal when /f/ follows, as "inferno" /iFfErno/.
English doesn't go this far.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
If a soldier is asked why he kills people who have done him no harm, or a
terrorist why he kills innocent people with his bombs, they can always
reply that war has been declared, and there are no innocent people in an
enemy country in wartime.  The answer is psychotic, but it is the answer
that humanity has given to every act of aggression in history.  --Northrop Frye

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