[tied] Re: Laryngeals revisited

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

> > Yes it is. The postvocalic lateral prevented /a/ from
> > becoming /&/.
>
> (Careful: we use '&' for schwa, so you mean /æ/.) What,
> precisely, do you claim is *preserved* here? The /l/
> created a diphthong /AU/ which then followed the normal
> course of that diphthong. Obviously I'm not saying that the
> /l/ had no effect; I'm objecting to your description of that
> effect.

The /l/ created a diphthong? I would say that it preserved the earlier
quality of the a-vowel: /a/. Or it backed it to /A/, as seems to be
the case with most English dialects today. One can see the same effect
in 'tall', 'wall', all', 'palm', 'malt', 'bald', etc. I wonder why it
didn't happen to 'half', though.

- Rob