Some further thoughts on the issue of *R (*O) and the reduplicated
aorist.
It's peculiar morphological attributes apart, I find it helpful to
view *R phonetically as a special kind of *h3, i.e. it develops in the
following manner:
A) *éR > *ó: (accented as in *swó:p-eye-)
B) *Ré > *ó (accented as in *pórnah2)
C) *R. > *o (unaccented as in *togáh2)
almost like:
A) *éh3 > *ó:
B) *h3é > *ó
C) *&3 > *o (in Greek, at least)
It has to be said that there are also some fundamental differences:
1) type (A) is very rare, almost all cases of *R occurring in
unaccented position.
2) type (B) occurs only in heavy consonant clusters, where the /e/ can
be analyzed as an unetymological svarabhakti vowel (*pRrh2mnéh2 ->
*pRernéh2, similarly to *póntHs, *pntHés -> *pónteHs, *pnthés).
3) Not only does *R _always_ vocalize to *o (unlike *h3), but it
vocalizes earlier or more easily, as can be seen when it stands beside
a resonant like *r (in a sequence *-h3r-, the *r vocalizes, while in
*Rr, it's the *R that vocalizes).
As to the reduplicated aorist, I hold the following to be true:
1. In Sanskrit, verbs that have -páya- in the causative, have the -p-
also in the reduplicated aorist (jña: ~ jña:-p-ay-a- ~ ji-jñi-p-a-,
stha:- ~ stha:-p-ay-a- ~ ti-s.t.hi-p-a-; r.- ~ ar-p-ay-a- ~
ar-pi-p-a-)
2. Therefore, the reduplicated aorist must have same structure as the
present causative, i.e. *R + root + *ei- + thematic vowel, except that
in the R-aorist the root is reduplicated (reduplication vowel *i, root
in zero grade [except *-eC roots, which retain *e]) and the accent is
on the thematic vowel instead of on the verbal root *ei-.
3. For some reason, the reduced form of *ei- (*y-) disappears before
the stressed thematic vowel.
4. The R-infix is inserted into the initial reduplicative part of the
root, where it undergoes exactly the same developments as the *R-infix
in the unreduplicated causative root:
a) it is eliminated before a heavy consonant cluster (except that the
heavyness now depends on the _beginning_ of the verbal root, not the
ending);
b) it has an "*h3-like effect" on the (unstressed/"zero" grade)
reduplication vowel *i when *R is not eliminated (in other words, we
have *i > *i: before a single initial root consonant).
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Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...