Re: [tied] Re: Stative/Perfect; Indo-European /r/

From: Andrew Jarrette
Message: 36615
Date: 2005-03-03



tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:



> Are you saying that the replacement of /w/ by /v/ in all IE
languages that have done this is due to French influence?  A change
that is so widespread I would think would be carried out
independently in all the languages in which it occurred (e.g. I
hardly think that French influence accounts for /v/ in Lithuanian).


It took place in stages. French influenced German, German influenced
north and south. Baltic German influence perhaps? According to
Piotr, /w/ is alive in Belarussian.

Torsten

_________________

That's interesting that /w/ (from IE *w?) is alive in Belarussian - English is therefore not alone (but if /w/ survived in Belarussian, why did it disappear in /kw/ /gw/ /gwh/, which became k/c^ and g/z^?).  But I still have difficulty believing that French alone is the ultimate cause of /w/ > /v/ in so many diverse languages, even Sanskrit (admittedly the /v/ of Sanskrit was apparently an approximant rather than a fricative)?  You say this as though it is a documented fact, not just a theory.  Is it the orthodox view of the origin of /w/ > /v/?

Andrew