Re: A question on palatalization.

In a message dated 1/2/03 1:59:19 AM, kesuari@YAHOO.COM.AU writes:

>However, velars seems to
>pull other vowels towards /i/ or /I/---OE _thenc_ became 'think',
>'England' is pronounced with an /I/, enque > ink, or the fact that the
>only places a /I/ is allowed in an unstressed syllable (and there it's
>required, hammock /"h&mIk/) in my dialect of English is before velars
>and post-alveolars (/tS, Z/ etc). I had some more examples but I've
>forgotten them. Is there any reason for this? Why would a sound commit
>suicide, as it were?
>
>Tristan
Some of this may be due to the consonants being nasal. The example of
'think', which I pronounce [TINk], is, I believe, pronounced [TiNk] in other
areas (California?), but 'thick' [TIk] would not be pronounced as *[Tik]. My
point being, this further raising is confined to nasal environments.
This also reminds me of Romanian, where [a] become [1] before a nasal (in a
closed syllable).

Josh Roth