R: Con-Palatalization

Jesse Stephen Bangs wrote:

> A little while ago I posted a discussion on Tzingrzhîl sound changes and
> didn't get any response, probably because I broke my own cardinal rule
> about asking specific questions and not writing long posts.  So this time
> around I'm only going to ask about one particular aspect:
>
> In Tzingrizhîl, the palatalization of dentals/alveolars before front
> vowels is a major feature.  I originally was only going to have the stops
> and fricatives be affected, changing /t d s z/ into /ts dz S Z/.  However,
> now I want to have the additional alveolar sounds /l r n/ be affected as
> well.  What should they turn into?  My options are:
>
> /l/--originally a voiced alveolar lateral
>    - becomes a voiced alveolar lateral fricative, ([lZ] ligature)?
>    - becomes a voiced palatal lateral (turned [y])?
>    - something else?
Latin /gl/ became turned [y] in Italian and French before front vowels. So
the second hypothesis'd be acceptable.

> /r/--originally a voiced alveolar approximant; *not* a trill to begin with
>    - becomes a voiced retroflex fricative?
Mmm, my teacher of Italian's own idiolect has a tendence to pronounce the
Italian trilled /r/ as /*/ (approximant /r/) or even as /z./ (voiced
retroflex fric., if I haven't missed the Kirsch. trancription) in certain
positions (generally clusters). This can derive from the fact that he comes
from the South... and it makes all of us laugh, but it's a proof that the
change can happen : )

>    - becomes a voiced palatal fricative?
This seems less likely. But I don't think impossible. If I've read somewhere
(on this list?) that there's a lang where /k/ and /t/ (or was it /t/ and
/p/? Should read more carefully!), everything is possible!

>    - becomes a voiced alveolar fricative (merges with /z/)?
Methinks possible.

>    - something else?
>
> /n/--originally a voiced dental nasal stop
>    - becomes [mnj], rather like Czech?
>    - something else?  I'm rather stuck on this one
Spanish <n^> or Italian <gn> (a palatal nasal) would perfectly work.

> Anyone with some knowledge of Slavic linguistics who can tell me how these
> developments were handled in those langs would be appreciated, and other
> con-solutions welcomed.
Sorry, only little knowledge in Romance linguistics. Some few and scattered
things about German langs, but really nothing about Slavic : )

Luca