Jerus Masia!

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Kevin Tuite <tuitekj at ERE.UMontreal.CA> wrote:
 
>I remain
>intrigued by the sociolinguistic aspects of the Chukchi and French /r/ >
>sibilant shifts, and in particular the association of both changes with
>women's speech (Recall Erasmus' observation that the French shift was led
>by the "mulierculae parisinae "). Could the sibilant articulation of an
>earlier rhotic have "feminine" associations of the sort that Matthew Gordon
>and Jeffrey Heath propose for vowel shifts (see the latest issue of Current
>Anthropology, vol 39 #4)?
 
While Emesal, the Sumerian "women's speech" [a literary dialect used
primarily in direct speech of female characters/goddesses] is not
distinguished by assibilation of /r/, there is a "shift" /n/ > /s^/,
which might be interpreted in a similar way.  However, not all /n/'s
are affected: in most Emesal words /n/ = /n/ in the standard dialect.
That should caution against making too much of this.  The issue
whether Emesal actually *is* a women's language (and not a local or
late variety) is itself unresolved (in the Sanskrit drama, Prakrits
are generally only spoken by female characters, yet the Prakrits are
not "women's speech").
 
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam