Re: The palatal sham :) (Re: [tied] Re: Albanian (1))

From: P&G
Message: 30239
Date: 2004-01-29

> >But you have to admit that the evidence for PIE *a is very slim.
>
> No, I can't admit that. The evidence is quite solid.

Can't we turn the argument on its head and suggest that PIE *a is in fact
the only true phonemic vowel in PIE, since *i and*u can be analysed as
allophones of *y and *w, and the ablaut vowel is phonetically conditioned
and may disappear entirely?

Peter