*gwh in Gmc.

[David L. White]

> Is there labialisation of the nasal in French words like moi?  I seem to
> hear it there sometimes - but not in Italian pur.   Or am I off-beam?

        As far as I know, there is no reason not to take "moi" as /mwa/,
just as "roi" is /rwa/.   That is not labialization.
        According to my understanding, phonetic labialization of labials
also occurs as the realization of phonemic velarization.  Thus in both Irish
and Russian velarized /m/ at the beginning of the word for 'we' can strike
English ears as having /mw/.  This just happens to be a convenient way of
making the sort of noise required, if the lips are already in about the
right place, and is not phonemic labialization of labials, contrasting with
phonemic velarization.

Dr. David L. White