On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:42:39 +0000, "Glen Gordon"
<
glengordon01@...> wrote:
>Miguel:
>>That is partially correct: vowel colouring to /a/ was effected not
>>only by *h2, but also by velar (= uvular) *k, *g and *gh, and perhaps
>>also by the nasals *n and *m (*-V:NC- > *-aC- ?).
>
>I don't observe a colouring effect from nasals. The reason behind the
>colouring of *e to *a is due to uvular phonemes like *q, *G, *GH and
>*x (*h2). Lacking a motivation or concrete evidence for Miguel's ad hoc
>"nasal colouring", the *a's that happen to coexist with nasals in some
>IE roots should not be seperated from other words that lack any nasal
>trigger (eg: *dakru "tear").
The problem of PIE short */a/ is a difficult one. We can identify:
- cases of *h2a > a
- cases of syllabic *&2 where the Indo-Iranian cognate (which should
have /i/) is lacking, but where a good case can be made for the second
laryngeal.
- cases of /o/ where an Armenian/Tocharian/Greek/Italic/Celtic cognate
i slacking, but where a good case can be made for /o/-grade.
- cases of /a/ after a "plain" velar (/k/, /g/, /gh/ both in centum
and satem languages), including labialized qW, GW, GhW ([s]kWalos,
kWasyo-).
After eliminating these, there remain a number of unexplained cases. I
see no reason to think that a single solution must exist for these
remaining cases, when there are at least four different solutions for
the ones above.
One solution for a number of cases would be a nasalized vowel **/ã:/
which would have remained as /a/, while its non-nasalized counterpart
**/a:/ became /o/. This might explain a number of words such as
Pokorny's *dha(m)b(h)-, *g^hans-, *la(m)b(h)- [2x], *mad-, *mag^h-,
*mag^-, *mand-, *man-us, *marko-, *matH-, *mat-, *mazdo-, *nant-,
*nas-, *pando-, *pank-/*pang-, *sal- (if *sa(m)-l-), *tap- (*tap-n-),
*wank^-.
>>Lengthening was caused by the laryngeals *h1, *h2 and *h3, but also
>>under special circumstances (-VCs#) by *s [and *h2] (Szemer?yi
>>lengthening).
>
>The phenomenon behind the lengthening seen for the nominative *-s and
>the aorist *-s-, as opposed to the occasional genitive in *-s (as in
>*xwei-s "of the bird")
*h2wéis is not lengthened, because at the time of the lengthening
there was still a vowel (genitive *-es, *-os) between -y- and -s. The
lengthening rule predates Nullstufe.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...