Pabappa wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:36 pm
bradrn wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:46 amWhile we're discussing syncope: what could happen after V > Ø / _# in multisyllabic words? Oddly enough the
Index Diachronica reports this change quite frequently, so it appears to be plausible, but I'm worried it could result in lots of weird consonant clusters at the end of words in cases like e.g. atɣe > atɣ. Currently I'm resolving this by vowel epenthesis of the new consonant cluster e.g. atɣ > atɨɣ; is this plausible?
I dont believe in that, no. With a sonorant like /r/ i can see that happening as in estonian .... Estonian might be your best model to follow, in fact. see which consonant clusters they allow and which ones they split up. and which ones (if any) do not drop following vowels at all.
In Estonian this only occurs for C+/r l/ clusters (and C+j clusters turn into /Ci/), but in Hungarian this occurs for most
heterorganic consonant clusters. The so-called "syncope stems" hence also include plenty of level or falling-sonority consonant clusters, e.g.
from *rm:
három :
hárm(a)- 'three'
from *lm:
álom :
álm(o)- 'sleep'
from *ʎm:
sólyom :
sólym(o)- 'falcon'
from *jm:
majom :
majm(o)- 'monkey'
from *rg:
féreg :
férg(e)- 'worm'
from *lg:
dolog :
dolg(o)- 'thing'
from *rk:
farok :
fark(a)- 'tail'
from *lk:
gyilok :
gyilk(o)- 'dagger'
from *ʎk:
kölyök :
kölyk(ö)- 'brat'
from *sk:
fészek :
fészk(e)- 'nest'
from *tsk:
pocok :
pock(o)- 'vole'
from *tʃk:
mocsok :
mocsk(o)- 'dirt'
from *tk:
átok :
átk(o)- 'curse'
from *ck:
szutyok :
szutyk(o)- 'dirt'
All
homorganic consonant clusters such as /mp nd rt ls/ however remain intact (including also /nk/ → [ŋk]). Alveolar/postalveolar/palatal consonants are treated as homorganic, so that clusters like /jt rtʃ lɟ/ also remain (
sajt 'cheese',
tekercs 'scroll',
tölgy 'oak' etc.). Additionally, heterorganic clusters ending in /v/ also remain (
könyv 'book',
nedv 'fluid',
nyelv 'tongue', etc.) A few clusters are inconsistent: *rɲ is subject to epenthesis in
torony :
torny(o)- 'tower', but in several other words like
szárny 'wing' it is not. Recent loanwords like
film and
farm are additionally not subject to this.
Khanty moreover has an entirely general (and probably related) rule of schwa epenthesis in heterorganic consonant clusters, with things like:
/kutʲŋ/ [kutʲəŋ] 'vicinity' : [kutʲŋ-ɯm] 'my vicinity'
/nowt/ [nowət] 'lifetime' : [nowt-ɑm] 'my lifetime'
/wæsɣ/ [wæsəɣ] 'duck' : [wisk-əm] 'my duck' (with *-sɣ- > /-sk-/).
An even wilder option is Northern Mansi, where schwa epenthesis is general but
optional, and this ends up with realizations like /atp/ → [atəp] ~ [at.p̩]: basically any consonant can be phonetically syllabic, including the voiceless stops.
---
Overall: depending on your general phonotactics, I think even quite widespread vowel epenthesis is plausible. For clusters of very similar or identical consonants though, retention or assimilation would be maybe more likely, e.g. so that *-nme becomes /-nɨm/, but *-mme either remains /-mm/ or simplifies to /-m/. (Of course, if this *-me is a suffix, then analogy could also easily start introducing even forms like /-m-ɨm/ somewhere down the line.)