Re: German Spelling Reform (fwd)

On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, FFlores wrote:

> I think Brithenig has /w/ > /gw/ initially... Or was it Kernu?
> Andrew, Padraic, am I right? Why did you decide to have that change?
>
Yes, both Brithenig and Kernu has /gw/ initially.  It is a sound change
that occurred among the Brythonic languages.  In Brithenig latin v has
the value /w/ rather than change to /v/.  /v/ only occurs in mutations as
an initial letter.  A later sound change makes initial /w/ become /gw/ as
happens in the continental Romance languages.  This sound change is more
widely applied in Brithenig than them and it is subject to the same rules
of mutation as /g/.

The Glossarium Damnonum Linguae shows that Kernu has some words that
begin with v /v/ normally.  In Brithenig the only words that begin with
f /v/ are borrowings, such as: fodka, vodka.
>
- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@earthlight.co.nz

    Jesus is working out his salvation; he is about halfway there.