Re: phi-theta [was: Hellenish oddities]

On Thu, Nov 23, 2000 at 02:13:54PM -0600, Nik Taylor wrote:
> Raymond Brown wrote:
> > especially as the combo [p_ht_h] actually does occur in known natlangs.
>
> I didn't say it didn't, just that I found it an odd combination.
I still don't know what I'm doing wrong... maybe I just have the wrong
definition of "aspiration" in my mental dictionary? I thought that an
aspirated stop was simply one released with a puff of air; the problem is
that I can't conceive of a stop with *any* release being immediately
followed by another stop without a brief pause or vowel intervening.

I was talking to a friend of mine last night, who gave me perhaps some
insight into the issue, but I still don't know. The impression I got from
him was that it's possible to conceive of aspirated geminates such as
/p_hp_h/ as [p:_h], by which I mean a long consonant with only one aspirate
release. Since it's considered as one unit, the release applies to the whole
thing instead of to individual [p_h]s. But is it conceivable for /k_ht_h/ to
be also be considered as one sound with aspirate release? Or am I completely
off base?

--
Eric Christopherson / *Aiworegs Ghristobhorosyo