[YG Conlang Archives] > [romanceconlang group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]

Re: Origin of Spanich /ch/ and /j/



Tertzafeyra, en 26 de Noyemre 2002 15:19:48 -0600 Eric Christopherson
eskribiw:

<<<As I recall, <chico> seems to be derived from a Latin form <ciccus>
(or
something similar).>>>

:-) I have known it since this morning when Pablo Flores explained it
to me in CONLANG list

<<<It *should* have become /Tiko/ of course, according to
the more general rules. What I read said that it was unknown how the
initial
sound became /tS/ instead of /T/ (or /s/). Not sure about <muchacho>.
But
in most cases, /tS/ comes from a palatalized earlier /t/, e.g. [kt] >
[xt] >
[Ct] > [jt] > [t'] > [tS]; [lt] > [Lt] > [jt] > [t'] > [tS].>>>

My sources give the same picture. Most ch's indeed come from
consonantal clusters. So it was not a question. The question was the
origin of /ch/ in other cases.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> As for /j/. I know it hides several Old Spanish phonemes: /S/, /Z/,
/dZ/. I
> can fugure somehow that in e.g. _dije_ it was /S/ comparing with
Portuguese:
> dije < *dixe ["diSe] < *dissi < *dixit.
Actually from Latin <dixi>, "I said."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Oops! You are right. I mixed persons :-(

<<<Well, that "jota," which is today pronounced [h] or [x], was
formerly [S],
and even before that [Z]. The /L/ became [Z], which isn't so strange
since
they're both voiced, more or less palatal, sounds; the /L/ lost its
lateral
quality, similar to how a *different* /L/ phoneme shows up simply as
[j] in
a lot of modern dialects. So: [L] > [Z] > [S] (at the stage where all
voiced
sibilants lost voicing) > [x] (general change of [S] from any
source).>>>

Thank you very much for your detailed explanations.
Or, in Rumiya (aka Arabo-Romance) [given here for convenience in
approximate transcription with Latin characters / el-khorufo
nätzraniyo]:
"Muyta shukrã por Su tawdzikhos mofässälos"

Yitzik
~~~~~~~~~~~~~