Re: [tied] Neptune, Poseidon, Danu, etc.

I think it's significant that schwa and /e/ have things in common, both being unmarked vowels in typical systems (both are [- round], [-back], [-low] and [-high]). [e] is front, to be sure, but in small vowel inventories frontness is usually a redundant feature. Note that the letter E is the predominant spelling for phonetic schwas (reduction vowels) in many Latin-based writing systems.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Sergejus Tarasovas

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2001 2:46 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] Neptune, Poseidon, Danu, etc.

--- In cybalist@......, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@......> wrote: > As far as I can see, *o is predominant in old stressed positions > while *e represents unstressed vocalism Then it could be paralelled typologically with the East Slavic developement (expiratory) stressed [e] > [o]. On the other hand, from (at least my) psychoacoustic point of view, expiratory stress is associated with the higher rather than lower tone. May be one should explain this phenomenon in articulatory terms (i.e., stress somehow provokes shifting the tongue back) ?