Re: *a/*a: ablaut

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 53052
Date: 2008-02-14

So in terms of vowels, it basically looked like some
of the languages from the Caucasus --NW, if I remember
correctly
Given that some put the IE Heimat close to the
Caucasus and there was supposedly some interaction
between NWC and IE, do you see this as a Sprachbund
phenomenon?

--- Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:

> On 2008-02-14 05:03, Patrick Ryan wrote:
>
> > I would be kinder.
> >
> > I think it is a last-ditch defense of a theory
> that has clay feet.
> >
> > We will se what Piotr says about what differed
> among the two *a's.
>
> I think I have said it before: my opinion is that
> prior to the
> development of ablaut PIE had two non-high vowel
> phonemes with the
> approximate values *& (mid) and *a (low). The former
> became the "ablaut"
> vowel *e/*o, the latter became *a/*a: (merging with
> those instances of
> *e that got a-coloured).
>
> Piotr
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>



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