On Mon, 14 Oct 2002 02:00:03 +0000, "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...>
wrote:

>
>Rob to Miguel:
>>Good point. Do you know why it only changes to an /o/ when it's a
>>"thematic vowel"?
>
>In my scheme, the thematic vowel was originally a schwa
>in early Late IE (c.5000 BCE). The schwa lengthened before
>voiced phonemes in the same way that "i" automatically
>lengthens in "bid" [bI.d] versus "bit" [bI?]. Later, the
>long schwa became *o and the short schwa merged with *e.
>Thus *ekwesyo (*ekw&sy&.) versus *ekwom (*ekw&.m).

Right, but it's *(h1)ek^wosyo. The genitive suffix is *-es (not *-s!), so the
thematic vowel was before a voiced segment (vowels are voiced), and thus
lengthened (*-%-as- > *-a:-as-). Then the gen. ending lost the vowel (by zero
grade) (*-á:-as- > *-o-s-), and the result is *-os(yo). Where the ending was
stressed (dat., ins.) or lengthened (abl., gen.pl.), or not subject to zero
grade (nom.pl.), the result is -o:- (with circumflex accent, because of the
contraction). The acc.pl. has two solutions. The rest of the pl. oblique uses
the oblique stem -oy- (always *o before *y). Only the vocative has *e (silence
being unvoiced). In sum:


N -%:-z > -o-z > -os
A -%:-m > -o-m > -om
V -% > -e > -e
G -%:-as^(a:) > -o-syo > -osio
D -%:-á(i) > -o-éi > -o:i
L -%:-a(i) > -o-i > -oi
I -%:-át > -o-éh1 > -o:h1
Ab -%:-ât > -o-ot > -o:t

N -%:-àsW > -o-es > -o:s (or -oi)
A1 -%:-âm-sW > -o-ons > -o:ns or
A2 -%:-m-sW > -o-ns > -ons
G -%:-âm > -o-om > -o:m
DAb -%:y-â-sW > -oy-os > -oios (or -oibhios)
L -%:y-sW-i > -oy-su > -oisu
I -%:y-sW > -oy-s > -o:is (Szemerényi lengthening)

Contrast this with the verb, where we have:

1 -%:-mW > -o-m, -o-w-u > -o:(w)
2 -%-sW > -e-s(i)
3 -%-(t) > -e-t(i)
1 -%:-mW-én > -o-men, -o-me(s)
2 -%-tW-én > -e-ter, -e-te(s)
3 -%:-én(t) > -o-nt(i)

In the 3pl. we'd expect -o:nt(i) (-%-én(t) > -o-ént > -o:nt(i)), but presumably
the long vowel was shortened before -CC#.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...