thy thigh etc.

[ERobert52 at aol.com]

In a message dated 20/05/01 10:35:02 GMT Daylight Time, connolly at memphis.edu
writes:

[referring to [c,] and [x] in German]

> 2. They have now come to contrast in initial position, at least before
> /a/, albeit only in loan words, and only for certain speakers.  I have
> noticed this for some time, and am pleased that a Duden author has too.
> This strongly favors the analysis as separate phonemes.

On the other hand, maybe the distinction in 'Cha-' words is phonotactically
conditioned - isn't it always [c,] in words beginning 'Chal-' and 'Char-' and
always [x] in 'Cha-' followed by anything else? (Excluding of course where it
is [k], [S] or [tS]). And it can't be borrowing that causes this distinction
- 'Charkow' has /x/ (usually realised as [x]) in the source language but [c,]
in German.

Ed. Robertson