More on dental fricatives

[Larry Trask]

David White writes:

[LT, on Basque]

>> but the curious thing is that they accept phonetic theta when
>> it represents Spanish /d/, but not when it represents Spanish theta.

> Perhaps I am merely displaying my ignorance (or lack of full
> comprehension of previous missives), but aren't positional considerations
> relevant here?  Does Spanish theta (when not from /d/) occur finally?

Yes, though the frequency is not high, except in names: <haz> 'sheaf',
<vez> 'time, occasion', <voz> 'voice', <ajedrez> 'chess', <luz> 'light',
<cruz> 'cross', and all those Spanish surnames like <Gomez>, <Lopez>,
<Gutierrez>, <Vasquez>, <Gonzalez>, and <Sanchez>.  There are also
some Basque place names which get final theta in Spanish, an example
being Spanish <Zarauz> for Basque <Zarautz>.

Spanish <voz> 'voice' is borrowed into Basque as <boz>, with a laminal
sibilant, and not with theta, or sometimes as <botz>, with the more
normal (in final position) laminal affricate.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk

Tel: 01273-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad)
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