Re: sound change question

On Tue, 23 Jan 2001, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> > Is it reasonable to have [c] and [c_h] (aspirated) evolve eventually into
> > the affricates [dZ] (gains voicing) and [tS]?  The change *sounds*
> > reasonable to me, but I am loath to trust my intuition.
>
> It could be reasonable.  If there was a general change wherein
> unaspirated obstruents became voiced and aspirated obstruents became
> unaspirated, it certainly is reasonable.  [c] -> [tS] is a common
> change.  So, either:
> [c] -> [tS] -> [dZ]
> [c_h] -> [tS_h] -> [tS]
>
> OR
>
> [c] -> [J] -> [dZ]
> [c_h] -> [c] -> [tS]
>
> Either way works.
Thanks!  I feel better.  I keep looking at lists of common sound changes
trying to find ones that get me to the target phonology (I'm working
bass-ackwards trying to construct a protolang that will result in
something like the conlang I had in mind), but sometimes I can't find
ones that I think might be plausible.  Unfortunately I screwed up the
original query (I apparently did away with aspirates in the latest
version of Arakis), but maybe I should go back to having aspirates...

YHL, sorry to be confusing and confused