Re: Historical realism and prenasalized stops

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/.

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