There are some natural trajectories for the
"reinforcement" of [w] in initial positions (the syllable- or word-initial slot
is normally occupied by consonants, hence the tendency to make glides less
vocalic and more consonantal there). High back vowels and the corresponding
semivowels (glides) are almost universally rounded (one well-known exception I
recall is Japanese, where both /u/ and /w/ are typically unrounded), and a
syllabic [V] would be a doubly unusual vowel (not only unrounded but
"labiodentalised" as well, something that vowels normally are not) --
pronounceable, no doubt, but not quite expected to occur in a natural
language.
How can a [w] become more consonantal? Here
are the most common trajectories:
(1) Unrounding, with the simultaneous
weakening of the velar component. The result is a "lax" bilabial approximant,
which may be strengthened into the bilabial fricative [B], and further
into the bilabial stop [b].
(2) "Labiodentalisation" instead of
rounding (a characteristically consonantal approximation mode replaces a
characteristically vocalic one). The result is the labiodental approximant [V],
which may increase its consonantal strength by becoming the labiodental
fricative [v]. Velarisation is typically lost as well in the
process.
(3) Devoicing and strengthening into a
labial-velar or labialised velar fricative ([W] or [xW]). Further stages such as
[f] or [x] are possible.
(4) Strengthening the velar component,
often with the gradual loss of labiality. The result may be the velar fricative
[G] (or [GW] if rounding _is_ retained). Further development may lead to [g] or
[gW].
Some typical IE examples:
(1) *w- > b- in Spanish, Hindi,
etc.
(2) *w- > V- in some varieties of
Dutch and Danish
*w- > v- in Russian,
German, French, etc.
(3) *w- > f- in Irish
(4) *w- > G- in Parachi
*w- > gW- in
Welsh
*w- > g- in
Armenian
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 8:04 PM
Subject: [tied] W & V
... Is this w/v
alternation some sort of universal tendency? Don't Hawaiian and Swahili
also have this? In any of the languages where [V] is an allophone of /u/
are there any cases of the syllabic allophone also having labio-dental
approximation in place of rounding? I've never heard nor read of such a
pronunciation but I wonder why it shouldn't be.