`Sancho'

[Larry Trask]

On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, Miguel Carrasquer Vidal wrote:

[LT]

> >Nobody knows what the reason is.  All I can report is that /a/ in the
> >first syllable of a polysyllable sometimes develops into /ai/, in a
> >purely sporadic manner.  But I *think* this only ever happens before a
> >coronal consonant, which may be relevant.

> Are there any examples before a single (coronal) consonant?
> Unless I'm overlooking something, all the examples seem to be
> before sibilant+stop or nasal+stop clusters.

I think this is correct, though I can't guarantee it.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk