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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] PS /g/

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Trevor Peterson <abuian AT access4less.net>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] PS /g/
  • Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 21:44:59 +0000

On 11/11/2004 14:06, Trevor Peterson wrote:

I know that proto-Semitic /g/ (Hebrew gimel) shows up in some languages and dialects as /j/, but does anyone know the explanation for how it gets to these two pronunciations? I mean, at first glance it seems like an intuitive association from an English-speaker perspective. Our letter "g" performs double-duty. But when you stop and think about it, the two sounds are quite different and don't seem to be easily connected. The only thing I can think of is that Greek gamma creeps forward to the point where it becomes /y/ before /i/. But it still seems like a long way for one sound to march. I wonder if there's a simpler explanation.


I would suggest that the sound shift from the English g sound to the English j sound is not as unlikely a change as it may seem. This change has taken place in English and in Italian, probably independently although I am not sure, and rather similar shifts have occurred at least in French and Swedish, but in each case only before an e or i vowel. Also in Hungarian? It has taken place in some dialects of Arabic, but not in others e.g. Egyptian. And if it is in other Semitic languages that must be independent of the only partial shift in Arabic. The change is easily understood when we realise that g before e and i tends to shift further forward in the mouth, to a sound more like gy, which sounds very similar to j and ends up being mistaken as such.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






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