Re: Question about Coda Restrictions

John Vertical wrote:
>
>OTOH, as mentioned, there are also languages preferring a CVCVC syllable
>structure, one I just read of is Pazeh (Taiwanese Austronesian). Might this
>be a question of apocope vs syncope having occurred more recently rather
>than of any universal word-shape preference?
>
There may be cases of syncope/apocope, but they can usually be ascribed to
the individual languages or a subgroup.

The overwhelming majority of Proto-AN forms are CVCV(C), with almost all
possible C occuring in final position. There are a few trisyllables, and
CVC+CVC (redup. syllable), but in those forms some langs. both intra- and
extra-Taiwan insert a vowel; others lose the first C in the cluster. Oddly,
the major non-Taiwan langs. (PI and Indonesia) allow an infixed "*r"
CV-r-CVC and many many have a homorganic nasal in that position. I don't
recall offhand if any of the r-forms occur in Taiwan; and they have C where
outside langs. may have -NC-.   Non-Taiwan also developed/acquired a palatal
series (tS, dZ, ñ) which can't occur finally. Those are two of the criteria
that determine whether a form is AN (includes Taiwan) or "Malay-Polynesian",
now the term for all non-Taiwan languages.

There is also good evidence for many CVC "roots", which show up with a
variety of initial CV- "prefixes" (but in such variety that no real meaning
can be ascribed to the "prefixes").