Re: Basque onddo

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

>
> > Actually, this is a *sound law* by which some consonants, e.g. /t,
> > ts/ get into the corresponding palatals /c, tS/. At the same time, I
> > warned you against the confusion with other types of palatalization

common

> > in Romance.
>
> > > How is this Sound Law predictable?
>
> > You can see its "victims" are velar stops.
>
> This makes no sense. Are the 'victims' the starting point or the

outcome?

>

Sorry, I'd have said "targets" instead.

> Also, you seem to be saying that the sound law applies if it applies.

Would you care to rephrase this coherently?

>

1) In Basque (as well as in fossilized words or idiosyncratic speech in
Iberian Romances), there's a kind of expressive palatalization by which
coronal consonants become their corresponding palatals, as if mimicking
children's language. "Expressive" means it carries some kind of
affective or diminutive connotation.
2) Velar stops can also suffer a similar palatalization, although in
most cases it can't be considered to be expressive. Quite often the
outcome is depalatalized, thus becoming a dental consonant.