--- In
cybalist@egroups.com, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> (2) Changes in the system of phonemes may be brought about by any
number of factors, internal or external, besides substrate influence.
If you applied the same logic to the development of English, you
would have to conclude that SE England was once inhabited by pre-
English aboriginal people who were unable to pronounce final and
preconsonantal /r/'s and who had no /h/ in their phonemic inventory.
It seems they also vocalised their /l/'s in certain environments, and
furthermore, as they were evidently fond of producing glottal stops,
their language must have had a series of ejective consonants.
>
> Piotr
>
Next step: reconstructing the language of the ancient "Eshtuarians".
Jeff