Re: /y/?

T. A. McLeay skrev:
 > John Vertical wrote:
 >>> Oh, also I forgot Korean, where I think /y/ and /2/ have
 >>> generally become in recent times /wi/ and /we/. That's
 >>> almost boring, but invites the possibility of a suffix
 >>> apparently causing an epenthetic segment at a distance
 >>> (e.g. ti+pas > twipas).
 >>>
 >>> --
 >>> Tristan.
 >>
 >> And the opposite difthongization to /ju/ is 'fcors also
 >> attested, in French loans to ME...
 >
 > Actually, the nativisation of French /y/ into Middle
 > English was /iw/.
 > iw > ju: is a later (Modern) change that didn't happen in
 >      in all dialects. This is a nativisation, though, and
 >      not a sound-change, so it's not necessarily a good
 >      example of what sound changes are possible.
 >
 > --
 > Tristan.

You have /y:/ > [uj] in Scanian dialects (and /8:/ > [ew] or
[iw], probably starting from [u:\]). Central Swedish has
     /y:/ = [yH] and /8:/ = [yB_0] which arguably is a step
     down the same road. Faroese has [uj] for the product of
     /i:/~/y:/ merger!

I guess one path of diphthongization of [y:] may be y: > yj
 > 8j > Oj parallel to what happened to [i:] in English.

[Y] may of course lower to [2], which may ruin the logic of
     a vowel-harmony system.


Several Mongolic languages, including Qalqa, have gone
through 'vowel rotation': *y and *2 have become /u/ and /o/
while *u and *o have become /U_?\/ and /O_?\/. Short *y and
*2 are still [u\] and [8] but the long reflexes are fully
back, and pharyngalization, which also characterizes
"/A_?\/" (though to my mind [A] is inherently pharyngeal!)
has become the relevant vowel harmony feature. Apparently
there are also Mongolic languages/dialects where *y and *2
have become fully back while *u and *o have become central,
hence the name 'vowel rotation', although I can't find my
sources and references for that ATM.  To me it sounds like
palatal harmony has evolved into an Advanced/Retracted Tung
Root harmony.


/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch atte melroch dotte se
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   "C'est en vain que nos Josués littéraires crient
   à la langue de s'arrêter; les langues ni le soleil
   ne s'arrêtent plus. Le jour où elles se *fixent*,
   c'est qu'elles meurent."           (Victor Hugo)