[Lingtyp] Mapping /l/ to 'tongue'

[zamponi_raoul at libero.it]

Dear Ian,
 
I would not claim that ”the common term for ’tongue’ has unexpectedly acquired /l/, either via irregular sound change” in Latin. This statement suggests an ad hoc consonantal change /d/ > /l/, which is not exact because in Latin we also have, for example, dacrima > lacrima and doublets such as odor / olor (see, for example, Leonard 1980). Also note that alternative explanation for dingua > lingua is that the l- of lingua has be adopted from the verb lingō ‘to lick’ (with /l/ from PIE *l).
 
All the best,
 
Raoul
 
References
 
Leonard, Clifford S. (1980). The role of */l/ in rhotacism. In Herbert J. Izzo (ed.), Italic and Romance linguistic studies in honor of Ernst Pulgram. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20240429/391ce819/attachment.htm>