Re: [tied] Re: ka and k^a

On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 19:43:42 -0500, Patrick Ryan
<proto-language@...> wrote:

>No matter how often I write this, it seems that someone does not get it.
>
>What is being asserted with the reconstruction of pre-PIE *e, *a, and *o is
>that there existed a front phoneme /E/, a central phoneme /A/, and a back
>phoneme /O/.
>
>The height at which they were realized is secondary. This is also true of
>PIE.
>
>This threefold division of vowels is the basis for the commonest vowel
>schemes in the world's languages (Anttila); and I wonder if anyone will be
>bold enough to challenge his assertion.

The standard three-vowel scheme is /a/, /i/, /u/.
Likewise, the standard two-vowel scheme is /a/, /&/; and the
standard 5-vowel scheme is /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.

>The idea that laryngeals 'color' vowels to *e and to *o is, by itself,
>totally ridiculous.

Laryngeals do not colour vowels to *e. And *o is not
coloured by laryngeals.


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