Re: Phonetic scripts and diphthongs ...

Andreas Johansson wrote:
> Quoting Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>:
>
>
>>>This is only
>>>because historically, they were single sounds. English /dZ/ was once
>>>[j].
>>
>>Not in English it wasn't. The sound came into English from Norman French
>>as [dZ] (in modern French, the old French [dZ] has become simply [Z]). The
>>Old French affricate [ts] simply became [s] in English borrowings, as
>>neither Old English nor Middle English (nor modern English) has the
>>affricate [ts].
>
>
> I thought OE had /dZ/? Spelt as 'cg', in at least some circumstances?
Yeah, but Old English /dZ/ was never /j/. It came from /gg/ (geminate
g). I suspect Ray was just limiting himself to /dZ/ that can trace their
ancestory to /j/. Seems a good reason for /dZ/ to be borrowed and /ts/
not to be (otherwise you'd expect /tS/ or something, if /dZ/ wasn't in OE).

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