Timeline for Where did Spanish get its /x/? Arabic influence?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 30, 2020 at 21:59 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | It’s worth noting that backing of /ʃ/ to /x/ is not typologically unheard of. The Swedish sje-sound (which is quite [x]-like in many dialects) primarily comes from /ʃ/, as do a lot of /x/’s in various Iranian and some Middle Indic languages. If memory serves, /ʃ/ became /x/ universally in Common Slavic (later refronted to /ʃ/ before front vowels). So it’s not really a development that is begging for an external trigger. | |
| Nov 6, 2013 at 12:35 | comment | added | Cerberus | OK very interesting. | |
| Nov 6, 2013 at 3:38 | comment | added | Urban Vagabond | @Cerberus: Probably, yes. It's possible there was some Arabic influence but it seems unlikely because there are no Arabic borrowings in Spanish where Arabic /x/ or /ħ/ corresponds to Spanish /x/ (rather, it's Old Spanish /h/, no longer pronounced). Furthermore, the /x/ sound didn't develop until the mid-to-late 1500's, by which point there were basically no Arabic speakers left. | |
| Oct 15, 2013 at 6:37 | comment | added | Cerberus | Great answer! So you are saying this /x/ was the result of an internal development, entirely unrelated to Arabic influences? | |
| Oct 15, 2013 at 6:27 | history | answered | Urban Vagabond | CC BY-SA 3.0 |