Re: Ablaut, hi-conjugation, stress alternation, etc

> If we assume a similar pattern for PIE, we could explain why some
> Germanic verbs follow the *< o, o:, o:, o> and some follow the
> *< e, o, zero, zero> pattern. Note BTW that eg in Russian there
> are verbs that stress the prefix in some forms but not in others,
> eg.
> prodát', prodám etc, but
> pródal, prodalá etc
> pródan, prodaná etc
> A verb type like that in PIE would explain the isolated *o of the
> pret.sg. of the *< e, o, zero, zero> inflection.
>

Maybe there's an insight hiding somewhere in the fact that those
forms of that Russian verb which stress the preverb are adjectival
in nature, as are the forms of the PIE verb which have o-grade
(perf.sg., tómos/tomós, base of the iterative causative verbal
derivative). There's also a tendency, at least in the Germanic
verbs, for the adjectival forms of prefixed verbs to stay united
(ausgesetzt, Aussetzung etc) more than the finite form (setzt aus
etc).


Torsten