Re: Romanian senin

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tolgs001" wrote:

>> I have a horrible feeling that r > n is subject to a lot of
>> irregularity, but it would be nice to hear if there are any
>> workable rules.
>
> The "doublette" coroana-cununa (for all kind of crowns,
> incl. made of natural leafs) occurs to my mind.

This feature is due to normal assimilation by next /n/ and is
common in Daco-Romanian. The process is like -VrVn- > -VnVn-.

> (The other ones, n > r, are more numerous and reserved to
> Western Transylvania and on the opposite slopes of the
> Carpathian ridge, i.e. in the Northern areas of South Romanian
> subdialects; as well as in Macedonian-Romanian.)

This is a late phonetical evolution common to Northern Daco-
Romanian and generalized in Istro-Romanian, and has nothing to
do with assimilation. As I already precised, there is probably
an intermediate stage -nr- as one can find in old texts.
Rhotacism of /n/ is not common in Aromanian.

Regards,
Marius Iacomi