Re: [T] -> [f] (was: Chinese Dialect Question)

Mark J. Reed wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 07, 2003 at 02:24:13PM -0400, John Cowan wrote:
> > A koine is a language variety that results from a fusion of dialects,
> > taking some features from each.
>
> Thanks!  Does it have to be a natural fusion?  Or is an intentional
fusion -
> a language variety specifically designed to be as "neutral" as possible -
> also a Koine?
>
In the real world, it does not seem to be intentional-- despite the
traditional (legendary?) description of the origin of the Malay language.
In effect, it is said, "we took the best from all the languages spoken [in
Malacca, when it was just getting going]".

On the basis of what I think was a koine I encountered during field work in
Sulawesi (on the basis of one informant.  Ahem), there would seem to be a
lot of variation in the phonology of individual lexical items.  In that
particular case, it principally involved: (1) pronunciation of /r/ as [r]
vs. [x~h] and (2) presence of final continuants /r l s/ vs. their absence or
occasional replacement by /?/.  [r] and final continuants were a feature of
one language/dialect, mainly of coastal traders and probably more
prestigious; the contrasting  features  were charactreristic of very closely
related languages/dialects spoken in the interior.  The informant would
sometimes accept any pronunciation, sometimes would reject one or the
other-- it seemed to be quite random.  I later discovered, quite by
accident, that the area did indeed consist of a long-time coastal population
with a recent (1920s) admixture of migrants from the surrounding interior
areas.

This sort of thing probably happened quite often in the past, whenever
linguistically-related peoples came into close and continuing contact.