[Histling-l] excrescence by regular rule?

[Alex Francois]

​​dear Martha, dear all,

*> I had always thought of excrescence as a sound change that operates on
individual words in an unpredictable fashion*
I think such processes of epenthesis are often quite regular, and easily
explained.
In the examples you cite, consonant epenthesis (I haven't heard the term
"excrescence") result from a simple rule whereby a nasal consonant is
denasalised when it comes in contact with a non-nasal consonant, e.g. *mr >
*m*b*r;  *nr > *n*d*r...

Such processes are very regular indeed in Indo-European.  Old French has
inherited many forms from Latin which underwent a syncope, resulting in
consonant epenthesis between the consonants now in contact.  Here are a few
examples:

Fr. sem*b*ler < Lat. *sim(i)lāre    ‘seem’
ensem*b*le < *in-sim(u)l        ‘together’
trem*b*ler < *trem(u)lāre        ‘shiver’
com*b*ler < *cum(u)lāre         ‘fill up’

cham*b*re < *cam(e)ra         ‘room’
nom*b*re < *num(e)rum       ‘number’
Eng. remem*b*er < O.Fr. remembrer < Late Lat. *re-mem(o)rāre

cen*d*re < *cin(e)rem       ‘ashes’
ten*d*re < *ten(e)rum      ‘tender, soft’
pon*d*re < *pōn(e)re       ‘lay (egg)’
cou*d*re < *cōs(e)re < consuere      ‘sew’

mou*d*re < mol(e)re        ‘grind’

pou*d*re < *polre < *pulvere    ‘dust, powder’


(​NB:  after I wrote this, I just realised Matthieu's post, who also cites
some examples of Romance.)


See also Greek

   - ἀνήρ /anēr/ 'man',
   genitive ἀν*δ*ρός /andr-os/ < *anr-os

   - Μεσημ*β*ρία /mes-ēmbria/ 'mid-day, South' < *mes-ēmr-ia
   (cf. ἡμέρα *hēméra 'day')

   - ἄμ*β*ροτος /ambrotos/ 'immortal' < *a-mro-to-s < *n̻-mr̻-t-o-s  [cf.
   Skr अमृत amṛta]
   (hence Eng. ambrosia)

______
Finally, the phenomenon is also known in the Oceanic languages of Vanuatu
where I work.  In Malakula (an island with 42 different languages
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__alex.francois.online.fr_AlexFrancois-5FVanuatu-2Dlanguages-5Fmap-2De.htm&d=DwIFaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=xWgwnXzyLjTDtEN1jkc-sliD_cd49k7fc7XSMi_8aeo&m=ymCl1L_HJ5AkF9fapssHPXWyzTYBo52LZCwNogZNsk0&s=eC7NE845eUhmRkOYoJFp4elhovp54xy_F3MiPHAUn2E&e= >!)
it is common to find languages whose phoneme inventories include two
prenasalised trills. Phonologically, these are:

   - an alveolar trill /*ⁿr/*
   - a bilabial trill /*ᵐ**ʙ*/

Quite expectedly, the phonetic realisation of these two phonemes is
respectively [n*d*r] and [m*b*ʙ].  Try them at home:  I find it difficult
to pronounce sequences /nr/ and /mʙ/ without inserting these transitional
sounds.   :-)

best
Alex
​
_________

Alex François

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------------------------------

On 13 September 2017 at 20:46, Martha Ratliff <ac6000 at wayne.edu> wrote:

> Does anyone know of a reconstruction in which someone has posited a
> regular change involving insertion of a consonant between two other
> consonants?  I had always thought of excrescence as a sound change that
> operates on individual words in an unpredictable fashion (that is, the
> low-level transitional consonant is phonologized unpredictably), but am
> wondering if there are cases where someone believes it to have operated in
> a regular, rule-governed fashion to an entire set of words.
>
> I am especially interested in insertions of the “thim*b*le”/“hom*b*re”
> type, but would be interested in examples of the “Ham*p*shire” type as
> well.
>
> Many thanks in advance!
>
> Martha Ratliff
>
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> histling-l at mailman.yale.edu
> http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/histling-l
>
>
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