Uniqueness of /#DHR-/ (was: Ir. cas(s) and IE models)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Bhrihskwobhloukstroy <bhrihstlobhrouzghdhroy@...> wrote:

> Yes, of course. Breathy voiced / aspirated murmured, like clicks,
> can go back to the earliest stages of modern human language. Note that
> only IE languages can have /#DHR-/ word-initially: an innovation
> according to typological Minimalism, but an archaism according to
> Minimalism in diachronic phonological change

Assuming you mean initial murmured plus liquid, no. If the Cao Bang dialect mentioned earlier is at all typical of earlier stages of SW Tai languages, one will have had initial [bHr] and [gHr] in SW Tai languages and probably also Khmer. Indeed, Khmer shows a rich set of old voiced plus resonant clusters, as in Phnom Penh - the initial <phn> transliterates back to Indic <bHn>, though the present day aspiration is not phonemic in standard Khmer.

Even in the case of IE, if the development was [b] > [bH], as seems quite plausible, it would fairly naturally entail [br] > bHr].

Richard.