[tied] Re: Retroflexes in Sanskrit

--- In cybalist@..., Piotr Gasiorowski <piotr.gasiorowski@...>
wrote:

>
> From: richardwordingham
> To: cybalist@...
> Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2002 9:57 PM
> Subject: [tied] Re: Retroflexes in Sanskrit
>
> > /h/ has simple realisation rules :)
>
> > (a) Syllable start, except after last stress [h]
> > (b) Last consonant of intervocalic cluster [h]
> > (c) Otherwise [N].
>
> ... except in the position after a tense vowel, where it turns into
> [Z], as in beige, prestige, rouge, ménage, mirage, badinage,
> garage, etc. :) _That_'s the funny thing: [Z] and [N] occur after
> different vowels -- also medially, where, as you noted, the vowel
> before [Z] is typically /e/ (measure) or a tense nucleus (seizure).
> The only near-minimal pair I can think of is azure : hanger (for
> those speakers who have the "ash" vowel in both). It could be a
> true minimal pair in Cockney.
>
> Piotr

You guys didn't quite mention that seizure and singer are a minimal
pair for some Americans (near-minimal for many others), since they
not only have a tense /i/, but a long one. I don't know what that
means except that phonological theories seem to work best at the
idiolect level.

IKP