On Thu, 20 May 2004 00:43:29 +0000, elmeras2000
<
jer@...> wrote:
>--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:
>
>> >Lithuanian -ùs seems to reflect *-o:ms, but that may also
>> >reflect lengthening before *-Ns (cf. i-stem acc.pl. -ìs).
>> >the same goes for Slavic (o-stem -y < -u:Nh, but i-stem -i <
>> >-i:Nh) and Vedic (o-stem -a:n(s), i-stem -i:n(s)).
>
>If vowels were generally lengthened before -Ns in Indo-Iranian it
>should also appear with other cases of -Ns than the accusative
>plural. It does not do that
I don't know if it doesn't. The problem is that it may not
be possible to compare the acc.pl. with anything else: it's
the only desinence of the shape *-Ns that we have. Of
course there are a number of endings of the shape *-s
(nom.sg., gen.sg., 2sg.pret., s-aorist), which may be
preceded by stems ending in *-Vm or *-Vn, but that's not
quite the same scenario: the *-s may not be the same kind of
*-s as we have in the acc.pl., and the fact that the nasal
belongs to the stem can also influence the outcome.
The nom.sg. *-s (< *-z) always lengthens (nom.sg. hasti: <
*hastins), and so does the *-s- of the s-aorist (and in the
case of -N-s-, of the desiderative: han -> ji-gha:M-sa-ti).
the *-s (< *-&s) of the gen.sg. doesn't lengthen (pátir dán
< *potis dems), and neither does the the 2sg. ending.
So given the fact that we cannot formulate a general rule
about the behaviour of *-Ns in final position, I can only
formulate a rule about the behaviour of the acc.pl., and
that rule is clear enough: all vowels are lengthened before
the ending of the acc.pl. in Indo-Iranian, or at least
Vedic: *-ims > -i:n(s); *-ums > -u:n(s); *-rms > -r.:n(s) ~
-r:s; *-o(:)ms > -a:n(s); *-ah2ms > -a:s. If anything, the
fact that a:-stems, where the long vowel is surely original,
lose the nasal and o-stems don't seems to call for an
explanation if are to assume the o-stem acc.pl. had an
original long vowel too.
The same applies to Balto-Slavic. *-ims and *-ums are
lengthened, giving Slavic -i and -y (Lith. with secondary
shortening -ìs and -ùs), so we cannot tell if the long vowel
in the o-stem ending -y comes from *-oms or *-o:ms.
Same thing in Celtic and Italic. OIr. o-stem acc.pl. -u can
go back to *-o:ns, but u-stems and i-stems also have a long
vowel (-u, -i). Latin ditto: -o:s, -u:s, -i:s (Classical
-e:s is the nominative form < *-ei-es).
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...