Re: * -er > -ër

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Abdullah Konushevci"
<a_konushevci@...> wrote:

> Even we know that short PIE *e yields in Alb. /ie/, in certain
> circumstances, it simply becomes /ë/, like *ma:ter >

motër 'sister',

> but motërmadhja 'grand-mother', *g^enH-ter > dhëndër 'son-in-law,
> bridegroom', present also in Romanian dandar 'foriegn', if I am

not

> wrong. So, in consonantal group *-er > -ër, in both dialects.
> But, I like to point out some onomatopoeic verb, especially
> <dërdëllit> 'to murmur', derived from reduplicated form of PIE

*der-,

> which underwent the dissimilation in distance r - r > r - ll.
> It probably was caused by the need to avoid too murmurings, giving

to

> words some liquids. Any suggestions by Jens?

Why me? I see nothing really alarming in motër/motrë (definite form
motra) which reflects *ma:tra:, a simple transfer of the stem *ma:tr-
to the productive class of feminines. The same presumably goes for
dhëndër, def. dhëndri, although I do not understand the funny plural
dhëndúrë. Also, since dërdëlít is accented on the suffix, I see
nothing unusual about the reduced vowels of its first part. I'm sure
you are right about the dissimilation.

Jens