LINGUIST List 17.2198

Mon Jul 31 2006

Qs: Spreading of Laryngeal Node

Editor for this issue: Kevin Burrows <kevinlinguistlist.org>

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Directory         1.    Duncan Sillitoe, Spreading of Laryngeal Node

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Message 1: Spreading of Laryngeal Node
Date: 28-Jul-2006
From: Duncan Sillitoe <duncannowhere78.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Spreading of Laryngeal Node


Do you know of any processes where [constricted] or [spread] glottis spreadat the same time as [voice]?

The only cases I can find reference to (which are repeatedagain and again) are Sanskrit and Ancient Greek. The pronunciation ofconsonant clusters in these languages has been (and still is) the subjectof heated philological debate and the analyses given by Kenstowicz andLombardi are limited to a very small number of words ie. missing all theexceptions.

Kehrein proposes Oromo as a language which spreads [voice] and[constricted], but his source makes it quite clear that there are moreexceptions and complications to the process than words satisfying the rule.

Given that the Laryngeal Node which dominates these features is meant to bea fixture of universal grammar, shouldn't there be more, and preferablymore clear, examples of this process?

Linguistic Field(s): Phonology