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Re: Historical realism and prenasalized stops

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Sunday, October 6, 2002, 3:23
Muke Tever wrote:
> In Altaic there was a rule for Japanese that nC > C. I forget whether the first > C had to be voiced or not, but the result C was voiced--the original voiced [b], > [d], [g], > [w], [j], and I think [h].
Assuming that the Altaic theory is even correct, /g/ did not become /h/, altho /b/ -> /w/ and /d/ -> /j/ are fairly definite, due largely to comparison with dialects (like, Ryukyuan for "mountain" is _dama_, cf. Japanese _yama_). I'm not sure what happened to reconstructed /g/, but /h/ is a much later development, arising from /h/. -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42