Re: [tied] Re: *kW- "?"

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:47:48 +0400, Koryakov Yuri
<koryakov@...> wrote:

>And is it typologically normal or at least attested anywhere for q > k?

It's surprisingly hard to find attested cases. The most
common developments of uvulars seem to be spirantization (q

> X, x) and q > ? (as in Arabic).

There are a few North Caucasian languages (e.g. Khinalug)
wich (in certain positions only) have velars where most
other languages have uvulars. But the best examples come
from Athabaskan, where q > k is quite common (often
accompanied by k > c^).

>And in any case why did IE *q become *k in all cases (satem, centum, Luwian)

Because it happened only once, _before_ the breakup of PIE.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...