Re: PIE *a -- a preliminary checklist

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

> > --- "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

> >> Because the German glottal stop is predictable.

> Word stems with initial vowel are automatically preceded by
> a glottal stop: <aus> [?aUs] 'out', <beirren> [b@'?iR@...]
> 'disconcert', <enteisen> [Ent'?aIz@...] 'de-ice, defrost'
> (where <be-> and <ent-> are prefixes). It's fully
> predictable synchronically; some analyses don't even count
> it as a phoneme in standard German, for just that reason.

The prediction depends on identifying morpheme or syllable boundaries.
What happens when morpheme boundaries become obscured as words go out
of use?

Richard.