Re: Beekes.

On 26/07/08 12:20:10, Mark J. Reed wrote:
> <s> = /S/ and <sz> = /s/? How'd that happen?
In an older form of German, two s's were distinguished (apical and
laminal or something?). The one which came mostly from PGmc *s was
spelt with a regular s, whereas the one that that from PGmc *t was
spelt with the predecessor of ß. The regular *s one was retracted
compared to the *t one, and struck Hungarians as more /S/-like. (In
fact, when the distinction was lost, initial *s before consonants
became /S/ in German precisely for this reason.)

Hence the Hungarian <sz> is essentially the same thing as the German ß.

I hope that's clear, or that someone can clarify --- it's a bit hard to
discuss this sort of thing when you can't remember the actual nature of
the sounds.

--
Tristanc.

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