Re: [IE conlangs]]

On Mon, 12 Apr 1999 19:08:10 -0500 Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
writes:

>> In the NYC / Long Island area /&/ before nasals
>>and /s/ (grass, can, ran, Sam, bass, damn, fast; but
>>it seems not before /N/) becomes the diphthong
>>[e@].  It also happens in other words, such as "bad"
>>and "stab".
>
>Well, those are both voiced stops... does it also happen
>with "bag"? If so, then you have a soundlaw in operation
>there.  If not, then it might be that your vowel breaking
>(diphthongization) there might specificly exclude velar
>consonants.  Which would be an interesting soundlaw.
Yep, you've got it right.

Here's the basic rule: [&] becomes something like [~e@] when it precedes
voiced plosives, unvoiced fricatives, nasals and [l]. They revert to [&],
however, if the consonant is followed by another vowel. Thus:

tab = [t~e@b]
abbey = [&.bi]
frazzle = [fr&.z@l]

BUT, if the syllable is still closed after the addition of the consonant,
the [~e@] stays intact:

grass = [gr~e@s]
grassy = [gr~e@s.i]


And that's it, as far as I can figure. I might add, Steg, that my
response is pasted in from June of last year, when you brought up the
exact same issue! :)

----------
Josh Brandt-Young <neonwave7@...>
http://geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6073/
"After the tempest, I behold, once more, the weasel."
(Mispronunciation of Ancient Greek)

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