[Spellyans] i ~ y

[Michael Everson]

On 4 Feb 2009, at 16:51, Jon Mills wrote:

> Nicholas Williams wrote:
>> If the two were phonemically distinct ca 1700, they were almost
>> certainly distinct before that, i.e. in Middle Cornish.
>
> Languages change. How can you possibly assert that /θ/ and /ð/ were  
> "certainly distinct" in the Middle Cornish period. Maybe they were;  
> maybe they were not.

"The Middle Cornish period" is itself not uniform, as we know.

Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com