From: "Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>
Subject: RE: Matres Lectionis and Ordinals
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 12:46:50 +0100
I have noticed in passing that the plural ending -IM, generally >written with a yod mater, is found without that yod mostly in the >plurals of words which end in a yod mater and a final consonant, and (from memory) especially if that final consonant is guttural. There >seems to be a similar pattern with the waw mater in -OT plurals after >a waw mater in the final syllable. Perhaps there was some reason, >whether phonological or purely orthographic, for a reluctance to write >two identical maters in adjacent syllables.
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