Re: Con-Palatalization

jesse stephen bangs wrote:

>A little while ago I posted a discussion on Tzingrzhl 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 Tzingrizh l, 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?
>
>/r/--originally a voiced alveolar approximant; *not* a trill to begin with
>   - becomes a voiced retroflex fricative?
>   - becomes a voiced palatal fricative?
>   - becomes a voiced alveolar fricative (merges with /z/)?
>   - something else?
Here's an idea for you. Why not let palatalized /l/ and /r/ merge
into [lj]. This idea is borrowed from a language I have seen with
a productive system of palatalization and also has /l/ and /r/. But
in this language, the lateral liquid /l/ is always palatal, while
the central liquid /r/ is always apical. So when /r/ becomes
palatalized in certain morphological contexts, it always becomes
(merges with) /l/ -- which is phonetically [lj]. I've always thought
this was neat. Unfortunately, I can't implement it in Boreanesian
since there's definitely a constraint against apicals palatalizing
in Boreanesian.

-kristian- 8)