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Very interesting and a good point. Although I guess more commonly the analysis would be that the vowel became a falling diphthong and the h was dropped?

Hi all,

Do we know of any languages that have changed a previous *h to j (for example before front vowels)?

Languages don't stop with the last native speaker. There are ongoing revival efforts of Mandan undertaken by the Forth Berthold Tribe and the Language Conservancy. They have Mandan (and Hidatsa) workshops in the summer.

Well, that is what I was used to as well. Of course you are right that might permits both readings - but here the odd usage is that of may as a counterfactual when we know it is not broken but it could have been, which is the sense I heard it in twice here in Northern California yesterday.

Lately I have been hearing people using "may have" in a sense that I am not used to hearing, but where I would always expect "might have" - namely in counterfactuals. For example if a kid pushes something over but it doesn't break and the mother says "careful! You may have broken that". To me that m...

So the interesting thing is that we have the following set of correspondences: Language A - Language B ʃ - kh /_back vowel ts - kh /_front vowel g - z /_back vowel And in language B /z/ is the voiced alternant of /ts/ in several paradigms. So I am wondering if Language A backed *z to /g/ after havin...

Noone said it was special. In fact I was hoping and assuming it was not, because I want to know the paths. The question I want to solve is what development took place. You seem to think that the verlar stops can beest be considered the original state with a fronting/palatalization and then affricati...

Ten years ago I would have said the same myself and scoffed at the idea (if you search for old threads in this forum you can probably find me doing so). But lexicostatistics is currently experiencing a revival in historical linguistics, with the current fad for bayesian methods across the historical...

Thanks, guys. This is great. I had a feeling these were not odd sound changes, just couldnt name any off the top of my head. The change k>t_S is of course well known, and it makes sense that kh>t_S>t_s as it seems to have done in Salish.

I've corrected my Sampa. Too long since I've used it. The kh and th are aspirated stops.and the y is of course IPA [j].

Do you all know of any language families with members that have the following regular sound correspondences?

k_h (or just k) - S
k_h - ts
g - z
j - t_h

The databases I am building are meant to be used for the purpose automated language classification and lexicostatistical dating. For this reason I am using a standardized wordlist (Sarah Gudschinsky's 200 word list) with some minor cultural modifications for the specific families. The type of vocabu...

You edited something and it was lost? Or the editing function is not working for you? I didnt think a google account was necessary when someone shares the editing link. I can try and share a personal link with you in a private message.

Both, definitely. And not too fine phonetic distinctions, only distinctions that can reasonably be considered phonemic.

Good points. As for English I want to have the most divergent varieties represented. I did want to include west-country dialects, geordie, etc. But I am not sure there is enough data available. If you have data for other UK dialects you are more than welcome to add them. RP is of course not spoken b...

Yes, only 216 items, so it is doable. If you think specific items are missing that would be illuminating you are free to add them as well.

Thanks for wanting to help, I have granted your access request.

Hi folks, I am back in a new incrarnaiton to ask for some help with menial labor in elaborating some comparative wordlists that will serve for all kinds of purposes - most specifically as a baseline for various attempts to create software that can classify languages. The database will be open for an...