>I think I need a fresh thread to present a Solomonic solution to the
>quarrel over the PIE vowel system. Nobody is telling lies, but
>points of view have not always (hardly ever, actually) been assessed
>on their real intentions. We do not make progress by rejecting a
>theory on the grounds that an entirely different form of it is
>unacceptable.
We also don't make progress if we reject the consensus theory in the
mistaken belief that something is amiss with it. What on earth is
wrong with the IE vowel system? Everything is as it should be as long
as we accept *a as seperate from *e and *o, which it appears to be
in certain circumstances. Therefore, everything is fine, even if *a isn't
as common as we'd like it to be -- This is somewhat inconsequential.
Secondly, the overabundance of *k (former *k^) in initial consonant
clusters, which we can be sure derive from a CVC pattern, and the
[+low] quality of uvular *q shows that it is *o that must derive from
earlier *a (which is [+low] afterall). The vowels are connected to
an allophonic variation between *k and *q.
= gLeN
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