An article on Afrasian sibilants

From: Danny Wier
Message: 15
Date: 2001-04-08

Found this on pure serendipity. Sneak around the website and you'll find other
articles in English and Japanese -- I remember one being on clicks in the Nguni
(Southern Bantu) languages.

My comments: The eleven (maybe twelve) sibilant system given in this article
seems to parallel the sibilants of Kartvelian. The Big Three (IS/Dolg/Bomh) of
course include both families. The sibilant system, along with the distinctly AA
(and IE to a lesser extent) laryngeals, are obviously the reason Nostratic is
given so many consonants.

It's very possible that PN had fewer sibilants and laryngeals, but being a
conservative, I'm loathe to exclude any. I'm pretty committed to the 4x4 system
of sibilant fricatives and affricates, given in the
alveolar/palatal/postalveolar/lateral forms. ~ Dubya


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