Re: My column on Cedric
in reply to a message by clevelandkentevans
The timing of the change from a plain palatal /c/ (as distinguished from the velar /k/) to the partially palatal sibilant /tʃ/ is uncertain. In modern English palatal /c/ becomes the full sibilant /s/ (primarily in introduced words, native words having already transitioned to /tʃ/ spelled |ch|). Some OE runic scripts distinguish between the palatal and velar versions of "c", but text alone can't tell us whether and when the palatal version is a stop or fricative.