>The key point is that /gW/ is *not* the same as /gw/. In the
>former, velarity and labiality (probably lip-rounding) are
>simultaneous, in the second they are sequential. The example
>that comes to mind is *gwistis > gjisht 'finger'.
I don't know how gji- does sound like in Albanian, but even
if it were to be pronounced [g+ji], i.e. only with a rather
velar-like [g], without the involvement of considerable apical
and post-apical areas, this Albanian word really evokes its
Romanian colloquial and regional counterpart de$t (the con-
tracted form of deget). Esp. when I take into consideration
the Transylvanian pronunciation thereof, where [d] => [g'].
And this one is almost the same as its phon. counterparts in
Slovakian and Hungarian. (A coincidence or not: it's the
same DR subdialectal where the rhotacism correspondences
[l]->[r] and [n]<->[r] are the most frequent.)
Only the vowels are different: Alb. [i], Rum. [e], and
in the Transylv. & Banate variant [æ]. On a couple of
occasions I happened to hear a third variant, with [Z]:
['Zæ-Zet], in Western Transylvania, but I am not sure if
it is a real variant or only a mis-pronounced [g^-] variant
(due to bad denture, or some... joke).
>Richard.
George
PS: No idea about Albanian transformations, but I'd be
still tempted to deem this gjisht as further reflex of
the same digitus. ;))