Re: Sound changes

On Thu, 22 Aug 2002 16:03:41 -0700, JS Bangs <jaspax@...>
wrote:

>Herman Miller sikyal:
>
>> I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention some of the sound
>> changes in Hinate~, the Zireen language I've started working on.
>>
>> Bilabial and labiodental sounds in Simape~ (the ancestor language) end up
>> as dental sounds in Hinate~.
>>
>> /p/ > /t_d/
>> /p_h/ > /t_d_h/
>> /f/ > /T/
>> /v/ > /D/
>> /m/ > /n_d/
>
>Eh?  This is very, very, very odd, to the point that I would reject it as
>unnatural. Consonants do not randomly change places of articulation (and
>such a thing is prohibited under modern phonological theories), and you
>reverse several well-attested phonological processes. /T/ > /f/ and /D/ >
>/v/ are both plausible, but their reverses are essentially unknown.
Well, this isn't exactly a random change; it's motivated by the desire to
minimize or reduce visible lip motion. In other words, a conscious change
in pronunciation. For the same reason, /u/ changed to /M/.

But how is /p/ > /t_d/ any odder than Hawaiian /t/ > /k/? I guess it just
isn't obvious which kinds of changes are likely to be found in human
languages. Fortunately, Hinate~ isn't a human language, but still, similar
sorts of rules would presumably apply.

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