Re: sound change question

Yoon Ha:

The change you asked about is attested in the Southern Numic
languages. There is a curious interplay between [ts] and [tS] in
the various languages of this group; Southern Paiute and Ute
have both sounds, while Chemehuevi has only [ts]. It seems
likely that Chemehuevi represents an older stage with
subsequent palatalization of *ts in the other languages. In the
early 70's there was evidence of dialect variation in Chemehuevi
such that some speakers had [tS] as well as [ts]. Unfortunately,
any dialects which may have existed are gone as there are now
fewer than twenty speakers left.

Dirk

On Tue, 23 Jan 2001, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> Quick question:
> 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.
>
> YHL, working on evolving Chevraqis (and eventually more) from Arakis  :-)
> P.S. Greetings to anyone I've missed greeting over the past week.
> Classes started yesterday.  22 credits and I can't decide what to drop!
>
--
Dirk Elzinga                          dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu

"The strong craving for a simple formula
has been the undoing of linguists."               - Edward Sapir