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Re: Lenition or Elision or What?

From:R A Brown <ray@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 13, 2005, 14:03
Isaac Penzev wrote:
> R A Brown wrote: > > > >>caeruleancentaur wrote: >> >>>phenomenon. I would imagine that the spelling "vyumba" indicates a >>>palatal consonant. >> >>I don't know why. I know of no evidence that |vy| indicates [v_j]; I >>have always understood that |vy| meant exactly what it indicated, namely >>[vj]. > > >>From what I know, |vy| indeed means /vj/, since there is no phonemic > palatalization in Swahili
Indeed not.
> But for my Russian ears it sounds a bit like > [v;j] (that is, [v_jj]). Maybe it's an aberration
Maybe - but [j] could, I guess, cause a (slight) non-phonemic palatalization of a preceding consonant.
> >>>I do not know why this doesn't occur in all such situations. E.g. >>>kiatu, shoe, and viatu, shoes! >> >>Or _kiazi_ 'potato' ~ _viatu_ potatoes. > > > kiazi ~ *VIAZI* !!!
Er, yes!
> >>A natlang has to have exceptions :-) > > > I think the word above was a typo.
'twas :-)
> Anyway, one can add _kiaga_ ~ _viaga_ 'agreement', _kiapo_ ~ _viapo_ 'oath', > _kielezo_ ~ _vielezo_ 'illustration', _kiini_ ~ _viini_ 'kernel', _kiopoo_ ~ > _viopoo_ 'hook', _kiuno_ ~ _viuno_ 'thigh' etc. > > >>I suspect it depends at what at what stage these words entered the >>language, from what dialect etc. > > > I suspect this to be an effect of a glottal stop present earlier but now > lost
Could well be - we need to know etymology of these words. -- Ray ================================== ray@carolandray.plus.com http://www.carolandray.plus.com ================================== MAKE POVERTY HISTORY