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Re: Cliks

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Friday, March 21, 2003, 16:44
Andreas Johansson scripsit:

> I don't understand why independent innovation should be so unlikely? Surely > there's plenty of cases where unrelated languages have acquired more-or-less > exotic sounds independently?
The mystery of clicks is that nobody can figure out how they could have resulted from a reasonable sound-change in some other language. Implosives, e.g., are exotic enough, but essentially they are just "prevoiced voiced" sounds, and they tend to arise when there is danger that a distinction between voiced sounds and something else will be lost. Sindhi implosives, e.g. arise out of breathy-voiced sounds. -- "May the hair on your toes never fall out!" John Cowan --Thorin Oakenshield (to Bilbo) jcowan@reutershealth.com

Replies

BP Jonsson <bpj@...>
Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>