Funny W
Rankin, Robert L
rankin at ku.edu
Thu Oct 26 20:14:04 UTC 2006
Yes, aWa is an example. 'Snow' is another and so are a couple of instrumental prefixes. In a few cases it is clear that W is a result of *w+w, where an intervening vowel underwent syncope. In other instances it is possible that a laryngeal+w sequence collapsed. The sequence *w+r has similar reflexes in one chronological stratum of vocabulary. I have a discussion of "funny" R and W in the Comparative Method article in the Handbook of Historical Linguistics.
Bob
> Is it *W that is involved in the Dhegihan positional ama'/aba'/apa' ? I.e.
Dh. *aWa' => OP ama', Ks aba', Os apa' ?
Would a single phoneme, if one could be found, be acceptable on other grounds as a reconstruction for the consonant in the above set?
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