I am willing to keep an open mind on this subject; and I have no axe to
grind (almost). The only impact on my own hypotheses would be to shift the
probabilities slightly on the phonological nature of some or all
'laryngeals' from my postulated [h] for all to [G]/[x] for, at least, some.
First off, I would call attention to the fact that we do _not_ reconstruct
PIE *senek-.
The proposed 'hardening' seems to occur after PIE 'unity'.
Would you agree with that, Miguel?
Therefore, technically, it is improper to call it a PIE phenomenon though it
seems to be widespread.
Secondly, the theorized hardening apparently occurs with all 'laryngeals',
suggesting a phonological identity that would make variegated responses to
them by adjacent vowels problematical.
Thirdly, the fact that the proposed 'laryngeal' is only perhaps
predominantly 'hardened' makes one wonder about the lack of (almost, at
least) complete regularity we have a right to expect in any given language.
If we take the context in which it allegedly occurs oftenest, -*(i)H(a)+*s.
in my opinion, the frequent lengthening of vowels cerates another problem;
there is nothing about -*g or -*k that should lengthen a preceding vowel. In
this model we have to assume Spiderman capabilities for *H: 1) it lengthens
the preceding vowel without losing any integrity, and then 'hardens' into
*g/*k.
The reason I object to Piotr "realized" spelling of the 'laryngeals' is
that, until *H actually disappears, I do not believe it should be able, in
the 'laryngeal' model, to affect length (certainly) and 'coloring'
(possibly).
The length here is primarily compensatory, would you not agree?
These considerations lead me to postulate a formant that is barely
recognized by Brugmann and certainly not generally recognized: -*g^, which I
believe denotes a 'male'.
I think this correlates well with OI sanaj-, 'old man' (*s°nég^-).
Most of the alleged occurrences can be analyzed as easily with -*g(^)s as
with -*ks (both then from -*g(^)s). Right?
The only problem I can see with that derivation is OI sanaká-, 'former,
old'. It is hard to fit it in the same context as sanaj-. It suggests the
existence of a second formant which I cannot identify with any confidence.
My last objection, or really observation, is that I am not aware of this
'hardening outside of PIE-derived languages though my best is that Richard
does.
Let me confess that I am invested in the existence of a formant for
PIE: -*g^A, 'male', which, I believe, is a component of *He-g^-(h)om-.
Patrick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miguel Carrasquer Vidal" <miguelc@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 6:30 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re: dhuga:ter
> On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:21:03 -0500, "Patrick Ryan"
> <proto-language@...> wrote:
>
> >Right. It is non-existent! not (so) rare.
>
> Actually, "laryngeal hardening" is quite a wide-spread
> phenomenon in Indo-European, although still not entirely
> understood.
>
> What seems clear is that the combination of laryngeal +
> nominative *-s (< *-z?) led to hardening to /k/ or /g/ of
> the laryngeal (whether *h1, *h2 or *h3). Quite possibly the
> accent also had to fall on the preceding vowel. From the
> nominative, the -k- or -g- spread to the other cases in a
> number of words and suffixes. The vowel before the
> "hardened" laryngeal is sometimes lengthened, sometimes not.
>
> Clear examples are the suffixes:
>
> Latin -ex (*-ak-), -ax (*-a:k-) and -tri:x.
> Greek -ax and -a:x (*-a(:)k- and also *-a(:)g-)
> Sanskrit -aj (*-ag-), -ij (*-ig-)
> Armenian -ac (*-ag-), -ak` (*-ak-)
> Slavic -akU (*-a:k), -ica (*-i:k-)
>
> All of these can be derived from *-ah2-s and *-(tr-)ih2-s
> with "laryngeal hardening". Not the parallel between Latin
> senex "old man" (cf. sena:tus) and Sanskrit sanaj- "old man"
> (sana: "old (f. adj.)")
>
> Individual words:
>
> Slavic [*Hs > *ks]: bic^I "whip" < *beih1s, bric^I "razor" <
> *breih1s , kljuc^I < *kleuh2s, jazykU < *(d)n.g^huh2s(?)
>
> Armenian [*Hs > *gs > -k-]: mukn "mouse" < *muHs, jukn
> "fish" < *ghdhuh2s [cf. also Old Prussian suckis]
>
> A possibly related phenomenon is seen in Germanic:
> [*Hw > gw > k(w)]: *kwikwaz "alive, quick" < *gwih3wos,
> *taikur- < *daih2wer-, *unk- "us two" < *unh3we-, etc.
>
> See Martinet, Olsen and Rasmussen in various publications.
>
>
>
> =======================
> Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
> miguelc@...
>
>