Re: A few phonetics-related q's

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 19:30:31 -0400, Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> wrote:
> Trebor wrote:
>
>> In a word like /anta/, would it be more likely that it's pronounced [anda]
>> or [an_0ta]?
>
> It might depend on other tendencies in the language.  Does assimilation in
> general tend to be progressive-- i.e are there clusters of the sort /-bk-/ >
> [-bg-]-- or regressive, i.e. the cluster /-bk-/ > [-pk-].
>
> Nasal clusters however tend not to behave like stop clusters; the voicing
> predominates, so I'd say [anda] is a more likely outcome.
And [anda] is what happens in Modern Greek, IIRC.

> But there are cases where nasals are lost or changed before voiceless
> sounds, so even your [an_0ta] is not impossible. It would more likely lead
> over time to something like [ahta] or [a?ta] or [at:a].
Or [a~ta], of course?


	*Muke!
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