s > r

[Roger Wright]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 
 
And in Spanish, including the most pompous and high-class registers in
which dropping final /s/ would in general be seen as unacceptable, a
word-final -/s/ before word-initial rolled /r/- just isn't pronounced at
all: "los reyes" as [lor'ejes]. (This is also normal in the rare cases
of what looks from the spelling like word-internal /sr/; thus "Israel"
as [ira'el]). In the light of this continuing discussion, I'm now
wondering if this /s/ has assimilated rather than dropping; before
any other voiced consonant it would indeed assimilate, by voicing, "los
malos" as [lozm'alos] (but [lozr'ejes] with [z] isn't normal).
                                                        RW
 
 
>I don't know if this transformation exists throughout Sard or in limited
>areas.  In that section, Posner talks about the general weakness of /s/,
>transforming, variously, to /j/, /h/, /S/, and /x/ via /S/, as well as
>dropping completely in certain cases (in French), in addition to the Sard
>example.