Re: The meaning of life: PIE. *gWiH3w-

From: fournet.arnaud
Message: 52567
Date: 2008-02-10

PPIE a -> e, o, zero.
PPIE i -> i:, i:, i -> ei, ei, i -> ei, oi, i
PPIE u -> u:, u:, u -> ou, ou, u -> eu, ou, u

The last step was made for systematic reasons, not phonological ones
(and only partially).
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I nearly agree.
But PPIE *o is not the same thing as PPIE *a > e, zero.

It's also unclear whether zero or °
is always from *a or from any other vowel.

Arnaud
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Part of this is from Miguel's lectures (in the archives), but he
posits long PPIE vowels here, the short ones are use to generate k,
k^, kW etc (and even corresponding non-velars). The idea that the
development was the phonologically plausible i: -> ei, u: -> ou
followed by non-phonological Systemzwang (especially in the supposedly
Semitic-influenced Germanic) is my own, I believe.

Torsten

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