Re: A few phonetics-development-related q's

Rodlox wrote:

>>>>>In a word like /anta/, would it be more likely that it's pronounced
>>>>>[anda]
>>>>>or [an_0ta]?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>It might depend on other tendencies in the language.
>>>>
>>>>
>>Yes, I think this is an important consideration. Phonological changes don'
>>t develop in isolation.
>>
>>
>
>  what do they *tend* to develop alongside? & what do they only rarely
>develop alongside of?
> *curious*
>
>
>
Well, sometimes all stops, say, are devoiced in certain contexts.
Generally they follow a pattern like that.  Or there's a chain mutation,
such as the Germanic consonant shift, which occured in all the Germanic
languages, from PIE:

First of all, I think:
b>p
d>t
g>k

then, to avoid confusion, the number of homophones are reduced by
shifting the originals:

p>f
t>þ
k>x>h

(I've left out the voiced aspirates - just makes things difficult).

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