Re: [tied] Re: Mercury and lead

As far as I recall, the "reduction trajectories" for /s/ have already been discussed on this list. [s^] is by no means a necessary step, though [s] > [s^] > [x] > [h] > nil is a relatively common path. The supraglottal element (here, the coronal articulation of [s]) may be weakened and lost directly, so that a voiceless glide without a point of articulation (i.e. [h]) is all that remains. Greek appears to have taken this shortcut, and if anyone needs a modern example (and an intensively studied one at that), final /s/ is "aspirated" and lost in various European and Latin American dialects of Spanish.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 6:05 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Mercury and lead

>French has lost its -s's, and it is reasonable to assume it went the >usual path s -> s^ -> h -> nothing, along which path Portuguese (and >Andalusian and South American) has travelled some of way, so at least >at some time x stood for (or at least was read as) s^? I'm not sure [s^] is a necessary step on the way from /s/ to /h/, but even if it was the way actually taken by French, it would mean that *all* cases of syllable final /s/ were pronounced [s^] at some time, including the vast majority of them which were written with <s>, not <x>.