As far as I know _Istanbul_ is no good example for prosthetic vowels. I somewhere read that this comes from Greek _eis te:n polin_, pronounced _is tim boli(n)_ (in Middle and Modern Greek), meaning _into the city_. So the _i_ in Istanbul would be original. (But I'm not completely sure whether this is correct.) IM On Wed, 19 Oct 1994 17:18:44 BST, Colin Fine wrote: >It is also worth pointing out that vowels develop between and around >consonant clusters at many times and places. Istanbul began life as >Stamboul (or perhaps Stanbul - I suspect the -m- is assimilated), and >in various parts of Ireland and Scotland today you will hear 'film' >pronounced with two syllables. > > Colin Fine