Re: THEORY: Allophones

Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> wrote:
>
> > FFlores wrote:
> > Now, what's the /x/ in /kaxtat/,
> > an allophone of /k/ or merely an /x/ coming from /k/
> > via a phonetic change rule?
>
> As Christophe and Kristian have already said, it's a phonetic change.
> However, it may have at one time been an allophone, the rule being
> syllable-final stop is a fricative.  Perhaps a lost consonant could
> account for their phonemic status, imagine, say, early /akqa/ = [axqa],
> then /q/ was lost, so that [axqa] became [axa] (/axa/), which could
> contrast with [aka] (/aka/).  It doesn't necessarily HAVE to have once
> been allophones, of course, they could've always been phonemes, with
> fricatives and stops merging in syllable-final position.
>
> Just some thoughts, if you've been sketching out earlier stages.
Oh, I was just thinking -- not planning an actual language.
But thanks (to you, and Christophe and Kristian) for the help.
Your idea might turn out useful in the future -- I'll note it
down.


--Pablo Flores