> Van: Thomas R. Wier <artabanos@...>
> Aan: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG <CONLANG@...>
> Onderwerp: Re: Request for help, Spanish
> Datum: maandag 11 oktober 1999 10:04
>
snip
> > I like [sju'a], but it depends on how far in future you want to
put
> > this language. [sju'a] is more likely to be recent than old. For an
> > older stage of the language, I'm thinking of something like:
> > [sju'a]->[Su'a]->[Sua]->[Swa]. The change [sj]->[S] is very likely to
> > happen IMHO, as it generally happens also synchronically (try to
> > pronounce very fast a word with [sj] -I can't come up with one at the
> > moment-). In fact, I even think that it could happen at the same time
or
> > even before the loss of intervocalic stops, so [Su'a] would be more
> > likely than [sju'a], even at an early stage of the language.
>
> Right, BUT: palatalization is, I think, dependent in large part on the
> amount of aspiration giving to the consonant involved. For example,
> in Phaleran, dialects which highly aspirated _tyei_ (2nd person singular/
> plural exclusive pronoun) and related forms shifted the initial
consonants
> to [tS], while those which kept the old Phaleran three way contrast
> of /d/ : /t/ : /th/ preserved the [ty] cluster.
>
Looks like Arawak: ti -> [tji] thi -> [tSi]
> So, if your /s/ is highly aspirated, then that would be a reason to
> think it would shift to [S] before [i] or [e]. Otherwise, you might
> want to keep it as is.
>
> (Okay, okay: that argument's kinda absurd, since it's arguing from a
> conlang. Details, details...)
>
Not so absurd. It happens in natlangs too ...
> =======================================================
> Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
> ICQ#: 4315704 AIM: Deuterotom
> Website: <
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
> "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
>
> Denn wo Begriffe fehlen,
> Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein.
> -- Mephistopheles, in Goethe's _Faust_
> ========================================================