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From: wald@ford.uchicago.edu (Kevin Wald)
Subject: Re: Unlikely sound changes
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Organization: Dept. of Mathematics
References: <adinkin-ya023180001703971944030001@news.usa1.com> <332ed5b7.16614642@news.xs4all.nl> <5grii2$ehi$1@news.sas.ab.ca>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 17:01:56 GMT
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In article <5grii2$ehi$1@news.sas.ab.ca>,
Richard Krause (<adeptt@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca>) wrote:

>Of course, /w/ can also change to /b/, sometimes via /v/. German provides
>interesting examples of the development of /w/ into both /g/ and /b/ (as
>well as other phonemes) when immediately following a liquid consonant (in
>the same environment where English usually shows retention of a back
>vowel). e.g.
>
>/lw/ > /lb/ (or /lp/)
>	Schwalbe (swallow)
>	gelb (yellow)
>	falb (fallow)

Right; note the b-less Old High German forms _swalwa_, _gelo_, and 
_falo_ (the reconstructed proto-Germanic forms are *swalwon-, *gelwa-,
and *falwo-).

>/lw/ > /lg/ (or /lk/)
>	folgen (follow)
>	Balg(en) (bellows)
>	Galgen (gallows)
>/rw/ > /rg/ (or /rk/)
>	morgen (morrow)
>	Sorge (sorrow)
>	borgen (borrow)
>	Ferkel (farrow)
>	Mark (marrow)
>	harken (harrow)

These, on the other hand, aren't /w/ > /g/; they're mostly /G/ > /w/ in 
English (where /G/ is a voiced velar fricative) and /G/ > /g/, /k/ in 
German.  Note the corresponding Old English forms: _folgian_, _bylgian_,
_galga_, _morgen_, _sorg_, and _merg_, where <g> stands for the fricative.
(Harrow, according to the OED, has no attested OE ancestor, but it might
have been something like *hearge. Farrow is from OE _fearh_, with 
reconstructed proto-Germanic ancestor *farhoz; in other words, the
original consonant here is /x/.)

>Perhaps also Furche (furrow)

OE _furh_ -- another /x/-word.

Now, if you want a w-to-g change of a sort, there's always the 
Gothic/Norse "sharpening" change: 

   (proto-Germanic) */ww/ > (Gothic) /ggw/, (Old Norse) */ggw/ > /ggv/
   (proto-G) */jj/ > (Gothic) /ddj/, (Old Norse) /ggj/ 


Kevin Wald              |  "Catalog of ships -- I'll remember that."
wald@math.uchicago.edu  |     -- Homer, _The Huntress and the Sphinx_
