Re: dhuga:ter ('LARYNGEALS')

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 07:52:47 -0500, "Patrick Ryan"
<proto-language@...> wrote:

>If a system had only one coloring 'laryngeal', it might well 'color' vowels
>to /u/.

I would not expect a laryngeal to cause a raising effect.

>What the 'color' of any given 'laryngeal' should be is a function of the
>frequency of the 'laryngeal' in the system not its coloring or non-coloring
>capabilities.
>
>The strongest argument I know against 'coloring' 'laryngeals' is that intact
>Semitic languages like Arabic have a full complement of 'gutturals'
>(?/h/¿,H) and while these may produce allophones of the vocalic phonemes,
>the allophones never rise to phonemic status as proposed for PIE.

Precisely. Because they still have a full complement of
'gutturals', the allophones cannot rise to phonemic status
now can they?


=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
miguelc@...