minimal pairs (was: PIE e/o Ablaut)

Stanley Friesen sarima at friesen.net
Thu Apr 6 13:34:59 UTC 2000


At 06:31 PM 4/3/00 -0500, proto-language wrote:
>Dear Peter and IEists:

>[PG]

>> Interestingly, this has come up before on the list even with reference to
>> English - and in particular, the phonemicity of voiceless /w/ ("where" etc,
>> in some dialects) and c-cedilla in words like "hue".

>> If you want a minimal pair, I offer:   hue ~ who;  but even this does not
>> guarantee phonemic status for the initial sound in "hue".

>I think the pair when:wen is minimal for voiceless /w/.

>In 'hue', the glide belongs with the vowel, as it does in 'hew'.

That is also my analysis: c-cedilla is an allophone of [h] before a /y/, in
this case from the "long=u", /yu:/.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com



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