Anatolian /nt/

[Yoel L. Arbeitman]

We cannot ignore the famed example of Sapir's. Hittite <kupahi> /kubaGi/
(/G/ - voiced pharyngeal, ghain) has a double representation in Biblical
Hebrew: qoba'' ('' = ayin) and koba''. From this Sapir concluded that
whereas Hebrew <k> is aspirated phonetically and Hebrew /q/ is
non-aspirated, but glottalized or pharyngealized (emphatic), the Hittite
<k> which was phonetically [k] i.e. [-aspiration, -emphaticness], could not
adequately be represented by either Hebrew grapheme. So the alternating
writings. As for the cluster /nt/ in Anatolian into Greek, this is a
special combination. Witness its pronunciation in Modern Greek. One cannot
extrapolate from how a /nt/ would be transcribed into Greek to how any non
prenasalized unvoiced obstruent would be realized phonetically and/ or
graphemically.

	Yoel

At 02:56 PM 3/11/99 -0600, you wrote:
>	On the evidence of IE-Anatolain /nt/ changing into /nd/ (very
>early, evidently), it would seem unlikely that the /t/ was aspirated.
>Such a notion, would also have broader implications:  that every
>IE-Anatolian /p-t-k/ that was wound up in Greek should appear as
>/ph-th-kh/.  Is this true?
>
>				DLW