On Thu, 9 Jan 2003 21:52:56 +0100, "alex_lycos" <
altamix@...>
wrote:
>I just wanted to give a hint that the use is the same as in slavic or
>german "with "i" ad not like in greek or latin with "e". See germanic:
>ich, ik, , slavic:"ia", greek & latin "ego", umbrian "eho" etc.
>Why with "i"? I dont know either since the PIE form is *egomlike in
>latin and greek so far I know.
In Romance, Latin <ego> was reduced to /eo/ in normal pronunciation.
(Standard) Italian maintains this bisyllabic pronunciation, except
that the first vowel has been raised: <io>. Elsewhere we have either
éo > eu, as in Portuguese or Standard Romanian (pronounced /yeu/, with
automatic glide before e-), or eó > yo, as in Spanish, and further
/z^o/ (Cat. <jo>) , /z^&/ (French <je>). Compare the development of
the masculine (neuter) definite article from Latin illu(m), which
gives both el (Cast, ECat) / il (Ita) [from íllu] and lo (Cast n.,
WCat) / le (Fre) / lo (Ita) / o (Port) / -l(u) (Rom) [from illú].
As Piotr has explained, the j- in Slavic ja(zU) is an automatic glide,
similar to the one in Rom. <eu> (/yeu/).
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...