--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> Where is your little laryngeal indeed? What particular nominative
is seen in Hittite?
This is a quote from you:
"-, not unlike *k^e:r, *k^rd-(j-)รณ- (> Hit. gir, kardijas 'heart'). "
so I assumed (wrongly?) that <gir> was nominative and kardijas some
oblique form (if otherwise, why the -d- in what I believed to the
oblique form?)
Piotr:
And maybe you could specify where and how *g^H- contrasts with *k^-
in Hittite.
Torsten:
That's a bit much to ask, considering I just posted a question.
Piotr:
Why did they spell *g^Hesr 'hand' as <kessar>, for example?
Torsten:
Yes, why indeed. But I note that it conforms with my idea that gH ->
k.
Piotr:
The same holds for other phonation-type contrasts which dissapear
word-initially in Hittite, e.g. <taru> for *doru. For some morphemes
<t/d-> or <k/g-> vary at random, for others one or the other form
predominates. So what?
Torsten:
Yes, that what they said before Verner, too.
Piotr:
If a language has a well-developed written form, scribal practice
gradually converges on some kind of standard ortography, especially
as regards common words.
Torsten:
If a language has a well-developed written form, scribal practice has
stopped converging on some kind of standard ortography, as far as I
can see. True. So?
Piotr:
If you insist there is a hidden regularity somewhere, a neglected
generalisation everybody has missed until now, it's great news, but
please prove it.
>
> Piotr
>
Erh. OK. But it was only a question?
Torsten