Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik The sound change *s- > n- in Arapaho
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

The sound change *s- > n- in Arapaho

  • Guillaume Jacques EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 16. Oktober 2013

Abstract

The sound change *s > n in initial position in Arapaho is unparalleled in the world’s languages, and previous attempts at explaining it have failed to produce a convincing account of its intermediate stages. This article presents two hypotheses to account for the correspondence between PA *s- and Arapaho n-, taking into account not only the individual steps of this particular proto-phoneme, but the evolution of the whole consonant system. It shows that the change *s > n in initial position only appears to reflect an unnatural development: it can in fact be explained in terms of a sequence of natural changes and mergers.

Published Online: 2013-10-16
Published in Print: 2013-10

© 2013 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.

Heruntergeladen am 4.2.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/flih.2013.002/pdf?lang=de
Button zum nach oben scrollen