From: fournet.arnaud
Message: 55935
Date: 2008-03-25
----- Original Message -----
From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
I really don't think so.
Just one example:
http://www.buber.net/Basque/Euskara/Larry/note_12.html
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
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I agree that Basque probably went thru
a stage when it had no -m-.
Now the statement by Trask
that all these words come out of thin air
is not so clear :
ma-kar "meager"
ma-kur "curved"
ma-lder "ladre < poor Lazarus
ma-let "lat-sus"
ma-les / malmutz "malice"
ma-lgor "French gourd "clumsy"
mangel "mangled"
maraz "marasme"
maskal "massacré"
mo-ker "hard"
Some definitely seem to come from
a clear place with firm ground.
The idea that Basque specialized #m-
for expressivity because this sound was odd
can receive support from some strange French
words starting with #ca-
usually with some familiar derogatory undertones
Ca-fouiller
Ca-lembredaine
Ca-lembour
Ca-futer
Ca-rapater
Ca-boche
Ca-bosser
Ca-boulot
Ca-mucher
Ca-joler
Ca-lifourchons
Ca-mouflet
Ca-timini
Ca- is a kind of irregular prefix
coming out of nowhere.
Because Latin *ca- > old French *tche-
*ca- became an empty slot in the distribution
of phonemes.
I buy Trask's idea
(although not all his Basque examples).
The same idea can be applied in French
with #ba-
Ba-fouiller etc
In modern French,
the same is developping with -tch-
which is a borrowed phoneme
from ma-ch-o or match
Tchatch = much talking.
Tchatcher = to talk for a long time.
Arnaud
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