Re: Question: 'mperie' < lat. 'imperium'

Okay,

my informant informs that that "nkiteb" has a weak "i" or "e" at the
beginning ("li nkiteb" being presumably something like [li In.'ki.tEp]
or possibly [li n=.'ki.tEp]). This written form is only used after a
vowel. Also, it seems that "nkiteb" and "inkiteb" are pronounced
identically, so that distinction in Maltese is apparently solely
orthographic.

However, she says that "huwa mportanti" is ['u.wam.por.'tan.ti], i.e.
without syllabic [m=] or a prothetic vowel. She guesses that this is
due to the [m] vs [n] but isn't sure.

Just because one form has a syllabic "n" doesn't mean related forms
necessarily have it, too -- for example, I asked about "ntuza" vs.
"jintuza" (perfect and imperfect, respectively); they both have three
syllables. So while the first has [In] (or something like that), the
second merely has [jIn] as the first syllable, not [jI.n=] or
something like that.

So, what does that mean for your language?

Nothing, unless you decide to do things the same way. However, they're
a datapoint for nasals in a syllable of their own (syllabic or with
prothetic vowel), rather than forming "mpe" or "nta" syllables.

As for "kum.pe.rje" vs. "ku.m=.pe.rje", Maltese has both behaviours,
so take your pick.

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

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