Re: Monovocalism: sequel

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "mcvwxsnl" <mcv@...> wrote:

> But that was not the starting point of the discussion. The

question

> was whether there is at least one Semitic language where vowels

are

> *not* used lexically. This is (almost) the case in Classical
> Arabic, and reportedly in Southern Peripheral Semitic languages.

Hey, that's what I meant. Almost is good enough - if one language is
almost that way, surely some prestage of PIE could theoretically
also have been almost that way. It should not be excluded on a
priori grounds. That's all that matters.

Jens