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
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