On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 16:38:13 +0000, Richard Wordingham
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

>A wild possibility is /kt/ > /xt/ > /ft/ > /pt/.

The stage /xt/ is also valid for Western Romance (/kt/ > /xt/ > /yt/) and
perhaps Italian (/kt/ > /xt/ > /tt/). The step /xt/ > /ft/ is trivial, and
indeed attested in Albanian (lucta -> luftë). The step /ft/ > /pt/ in
Romanian also offers no phonetic problems, although /f/ does ot otherwise
yield /p/ in Romanian (only in the clusters /pt/, /ps/ < */ft/, */fs/).

>This
>theory does not explain /Nn/ > /mn/.

It's analogous to the step /xt/ > /ft/.

For /N/, steps 1. (fricativization), and 3. (defricativization) are
inoperative.


=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...