--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> "Laryngeal metathesis" has a technical meaning in IE studies. It
has been proposed that roots of the type *CeH- with *-i- and *-u-
"extensions" formed nil grades like *CiH-/*CuH- (beside expected
*CHi-/*CHu-). This device was invented mainly in order to account for
alternations like *po:-/*pi:-/*poi- 'drink' or *dHe:-/*dHi:-/*dHei-
/*dHoi- 'suck(le)' (allegedly *peh3(-i)-/*pih3-, *dHeh1(-i)-/*dHih1-
). My own (published) analysis of such alternations does not make use
of laryngeal metathesis (or variation between unextended and extended
roots) and explains them as regular phonological developments of pre-
laryngeal diphthongs.
Intriguing. So how and why the glides have disappeared (*po:-< ? <
*poi- ).
Sergei