Re: Basque onddo

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

>
> > 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.
>
> This can be a general trend (although postalveo-palatal affricates are
> particularly rare and difficult in children's speech), but still can't
> predict why precisely onddo
>

I don't think this a "rule" (and hence predictable) but rather an
expressive feature of the language, either for conveying an affective
denotation, avoiding homonymy or even for tabooistic reasons. In the
case of onddo, I think one of the last two would be the explanation.