Re: Apollo (was Re: [tied] Nostradamus and Dumezil)

But the problem is: did Medieval Portuguese had palatalized s, and Southern Brazilian "de-palatalized", or vice versa, did Old Portuguese had non-palatalized s, and Portuguese palatalized them (influencing Brazilian regions with huge Portuguese presence, like Rio de Janeiro?

In fact, Spanish and Italian have great influence in Southern Brazil (Sao Paulo City's accent is strongly Italianized).

----- Original Message -----

From: David Sánchez

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2001 2:59 PM

Subject: Re: Apollo (was Re: [tied] Nostradamus and Dumezil)

>In Portuguese the palatalization of s before consonants and in final syllabes occurs

> in Portugal, but it's not general in Brazilian Portuguese

Exactly palatalized "s" is the marked member of no-palatal/palatal oposition therefore it is not strange that phonetic change: s' [palatalized] > s [dental] actually had occurred in some regions of Brazil (people q emigrated to Brazil did not have languages with s', the substratum of these pre-Brazilian immigrants favors the change!)

If in Portugal Latin s [dental] were replaced by noticeable member of the oposition we must look for an explanation. But the phenomenon is repeated in the other romanic languages of the Iberian Peninsula, therefore I find reasonable look for something in the substratum that conditions such changes [the Iberian has two non-voiced sibilants: s and s'; Basque has three: s (dental), z (alveo-palatal), x (palatal) ].

David Sánchez