Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Ivan A Derzhanski)
Subject: Re: The letter q
Message-ID: <D2I55H.J3E@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
References: <3fbhka$n9@mother.usf.edu> <3fbkf8$5k3@ixnews2.ix.netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995 14:20:01 GMT
Lines: 22

In article <3fbkf8$5k3@ixnews2.ix.netcom.com> mloMark@ix.netcom.com (Mark Odegard) writes:
>Q is in the earliest forms of the alphabet and corresponds to Hebrew 
>qoph, Arabic qaf, and is a guttural,

Oh dear.  Are there still people who use this mediaeval term?

>a "k" sounded in the throat.

In the throat?  A uvular consonant?  It might be a good idea to revise
the chapter on places of articulation.

>Greeks dropped the Q from their stock of letters (along with digamma, 
>the F, adding a new letter only much later to represent the sound, phi).

No.  The digamma and the phi coexisted for some time, and they never
had the same phonetic value.

-- 
`Don't know whit ye're bletherin aboot', said Peter.    (The Glasgow Gospel)
Ivan A Derzhanski (iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk, iad@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu)
* Centre for Cognitive Science,  2 Buccleuch Place,   Edinburgh EH8 9LW,  UK
* Cowan House E113, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Pk Rd, Edinburgh EH16 5BD, UK
