Any languages show h > j?

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Radagast the Third
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Any languages show h > j?

Post by Radagast the Third »

Hi all,

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

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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by zompist »

English? (huge, human are pronounced yuge, yuman by some people.)

Radagast the Third
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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by Radagast the Third »

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?

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KathTheDragon
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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by KathTheDragon »

Given that those words do have /hj/ for people who don't drop the h, yes, I'd wager that a direct change h > j isn't the case here.

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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by gestaltist »

h > j was reconstructed as a change in the development of some Khoisan languages, IIRC.

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Tropylium
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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by Tropylium »

Livonian: *h > j between a front vowel and any other vowel, e.g. lejā 'meat' ~ Finnish & Estonian liha.
[ˌʔaɪsəˈpʰɻ̊ʷoʊpɪɫ ˈʔæɫkəɦɔɫ]

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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by Soap »

Coptic apparently has x > š unconditionally, or at least as best we know given Egyptian phonology. It may have even been h>š. That's t least halfway by itself, and I think in uncodnitional
Š>j is reasonable.
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Travis B.
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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by Travis B. »

Tropylium wrote:Livonian: *h > j between a front vowel and any other vowel, e.g. lejā 'meat' ~ Finnish & Estonian liha.
How likely is it that that was actually lehā > leā > lejā?
Dibotahamdn duthma jallni agaynni ra hgitn lakrhmi.
Amuhawr jalla vowa vta hlakrhi hdm duthmi xaja.
Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro.

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Tropylium
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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by Tropylium »

Travis B. wrote:
Tropylium wrote:Livonian: *h > j between a front vowel and any other vowel, e.g. lejā 'meat' ~ Finnish & Estonian liha.
How likely is it that that was actually lehā > leā > lejā?
Not strictly ruled out, but that would make it the only case in Livonian where something is either lost or epenthesized intervocalically.
[ˌʔaɪsəˈpʰɻ̊ʷoʊpɪɫ ˈʔæɫkəɦɔɫ]

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linguoboy
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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by linguoboy »

I was thinking about phonemic alternations in Korean and Spanish the other day and musing that it would be fun to have a language where /ð/ (whether from original /d/ or not) devoices to [θ] finally (cf. Castilian Madriz) and is either lost medially or becomes [j] to avoid hiatus (cf. Finnish). Final [θ] could debuccalise and you'd end up with a [j] ~ [h] alternation.

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Re: Any languages show h > j?

Post by Nortaneous »

Aside from Khoisan:
27.5 Proto-Mayan to Kaqchikel-Tz’utujil h → j / _#
29.1.1.1.27 Proto-Western Southern Athabaskan to Navajo {ɣ,h} → j / in prefixes related to word derivation
Siöö jandeng raiglin zåbei tandiüłåd;
nää džunnfin kukuch vklaivei sivei tåd.
Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei.

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