Quoting Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...>:
> Peter Bleackley dagizhe:
>
> > Staving Isadora Zamora:
> > >How do you think a language would go about borrowing the word [xuno] when
> > >the language doing the borrowing has no /x/ phoneme nor any /h/
> > >either?
> >
> > I'd be very tempted to use f_w, based on the "ha" line of the Japanese
> > syllabary
>
> I second it. Approximating [xuno] as [f_wuno] sounds quite reasonable. A
> similar
> process of [xw] < > [f] interchange happens in Ukrainian dialects: _forma_ >
> _xworma_ 'form', _xwylja_ > _fylja_ 'wave'.
Reminds me; how can a labiodental fricative possibly be labialized?
That aside, [f] and [x] are supposed to be quite similar accoustically (I
guess my brain's damaged for having those both phonemic in my native language -
they sound perfectly different to me).
Andreas