Re: A sound change question...

Quoting JS Bangs <jaspax@...>:

> Steg Belsky sikyal:
> > Some other /w/ shifts that seem (at least to me) possible, but i can't
> > think of any natlang examples:
[...]
> > /w/ to bilabial approximant (/w/ without the velar part)
> > /w/ to velar approximant (/w/ without the labial part)
> > /w/ to /b/
>
> /w/ > /b/ seems unlikely to me, though the reverse /b/ > /w/ is attested,
> I believe. I can only see this happening in some specific environment,
> such as mw > mbw > mb.
Depends on what you call "/w/".  I'm sure you'll recall fusion
of phonemic features, as in PIT *gwous > Greek bo:s.

> > /w/ to rounding on adjacent sounds, i.e. /...wb.../ to /...b<w>.../, /Mw/
> > to /u/, etc.
>
> This happens, sort of, in Latin > Spanish. L AVRVM [awrum] to Sp oro
> [oro].
Is there any evidence that [w] was could be a coda consonant
in Latin? It's certainly true that postvocalic [w] is acoustically
less salient than prevocalic [w].

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