Re: /s/ -> /h/ [was: Re: Betreft: Re: k(w)->p]

>>> Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...> 01/27 10:14  >>>
<snip>
Absolutely - both sounds are voicless fricatives.

And the change is very widespread.  Welsh has been mentioned.  The Gaelic
languages have /h/ as the 'soft mutation' form of /s/.

-------->Yes, I know this all, some Quechua dialects have it too: 'house'
wasi -> wahi
Why is it that s becomes h and never the other way round? (I've never seen it)
Is it because the tongue needs to move more?

<--------
 Post vocalic /s/
became /h/ in early French before disappearing to leave, generally, a
circumflex over the vowel to lament its demise.  And in Andalusian Spanish
/s/ has become [h] in just such a position, los amigos /loha'miGoh/.
---------->
I thought this was because the /s/ in Spanish is preaspirated when it is
syllable final [lo_h_s amigo_h_s]. When [s] is dropped, [h] automatically
pops up.

Rob