On 2007-02-07 00:19, alexandru_mg3 wrote:
> Based on what you suspect a voiced fricative -D- ? and 'not
> directly' -dH- > -d- ? (as in PAlb dH > d, bH > b etc...)
The aspirated stops became fricatives in Italic, voiceless in
word-initial position but voiced intervocalically (the distinction was
allophonic). The continuant pronunciation was retained in Latin in the
case of *-g(^)H- > *-G- > -h- (or zero) and *-gWH- > *-GW- > [-w-], and
note the Sabellic reflexes of *-bH-, *-dH-, *-gWH- > -f- (pronounced
[-v-] or [-B-]) and *-g(^)H- > -h-. The non-dorsal fricatives *-B- and
*-D- were "hardened" into Latin stops, but the merger of both as a
labial in some environments (after *r, *u, before *r, *u/*w, *l) is
easier to undertand, phonetically, as a confusion of fricatives rather
than stops. Few languages ever merge /d/ with /b/, but the confusion of
interdental and labial _fricatives_ is common (cf. with, mouth > "wiv",
"mouf" in some non-standard varieties of English) because of their much
greater perceptual similarity. Note, too, the complex change of *-sr- >
*-zr- > *-Dr- > *-Br- > -br-, hard to explain without assuming *-D- at
one point. Word initially, we have *sr- > *Tr- > fr- (no voicing).
Piotr