Return-Path: Message-Id: <9110161321.AA03189@relay1.UU.NET> Date: Wed Oct 16 13:26:12 1991 Reply-To: Rick Morneau Sender: Lojban list From: Rick Morneau Subject: Re: intervocalic consonant clusters in Lojban & Vorlin X-To: conlang@buphy.bu.edu, lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Ken Taylor Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Wed Oct 16 13:26:12 1991 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!cuvma.bitnet!LOJBAN In an earlier post, Mark Shoulson writes: > > I think most assimilation is likely to be regressive (i.e. the > earlier consonant changes to be in concord with the later, so [mt] > wouldn't go to [mp]). This is how the Skt rules go, and also how I > find more natural. There are sure to be exceptions, though. > An interesting example of what you call "regressive" occurs in Korean. In Korean, if a morpheme ends in /p/ and the following morpheme starts with /n/, the result is pronounced [mn]. For example, /hap/ + /nida/ is pronounced [hamnida]. In other words, a stop assimilates to a nasal. I've never seen this phenomenon in any other language. What I find especially odd about it is that it occurs across a morpheme boundary. I guess you could call it an extreme case of consonant harmony. By the way, you mentioned that some people pronounce "sandwich" as if it were spelled "samwich". I've only heard this from very young children or very inebriated adults. Finally, I am starting to suspect that this discussion is probably very boring to most conlangers and lojbanists. Perhaps we should end it here, or take it to email. Have a nice day! Rick -- *=*= Disclaimer: The INEL does not speak for me and vice versa =*=* = Rick Morneau Idaho National Engineering Laboratory = * mnu@inel.gov Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415, USA * =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= NeXT Mail accepted here! *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=