Re: [tied] a:/o: merger

On Mon, 01 Oct 2001 20:54:44 -0000, "Sergejus Tarasovas"
<S.Tarasovas@...> wrote:

>--- In cybalist@..., Miguel Carrasquer Vidal <mcv@...> wrote:
>
>> As to *-o:n > -y, I have my doubts. I'd rather explain that through
>> the influence of a (secondary) -s [> -h] (ka:mo:ns > kamy), cf.
>> a:-stem Acc.pl. -a:ns > -y [or even Gsg. and Npl. -a:s > -y].
>> And thematic 1sg. -/o:+m/ > -/o,/
>
>I sympathize to Kortlandt's interpretation as well.

I didn't realize this was Kortlandt's. Reference?

>There are some
>moments which don't let me accept it 100%, though.
>1. Secondary -s in *-o:n/-en- stems looks a bit ad hoc-ish.

But what if it also explains mati < ma:te:r+s?

>2. One is forced to accept that *s influenced a vowel even 'through'
>a plosive (like in *-onts; *-onts>*-ons solution is possible, but in
>turn must be argumented).
>3. G. sg resp. N. pl. of -ja-stems makes *y < *-a:s interpretation
>for a-stems problematic. OCS and standard ORuss reflexes (-je, and -
>je^, respectively) point to something like *-j-a:ns a proto-form
>(analogical explanation is nice but carries more entropy than
>information as can be easily tailored to explain nearly everything).
>Thus we have to conclude *s could only shift a vowel to a higher
>position with a little help of preceding *n (why? was that the *s
>that really mattered?).
>4. The origin of Slavic th. 1 sg. *-o, hasn't been established
>reliably. <*o:m is not the only possible solution.

I've seen -a:m suggested, with conjunctive a:, but that seems quite
unnecessary.

>5. *s-shift is nice to explain *-os > *-U, but what about *nebo ,
>*slovo etc? Of course prosodical moments can be envolved, but they
>are quite shaky themselves.

s-stem neuters in *-os and o-stem neuters in *-om behave irregularly.
The only plausible solution is to admit influence from *tod.

>6. Some Savic words (like *ryba and *myslI) can hardly be
>etymologized without interpretation of their *y as *y2 < *o(:)n (cf.
>*re,bU and Lith. manyti, mi,sle.~).
>7. >h-like loss of s-endings is rather an unusual way for to do
>business for IE languages. Are there any typological parallels for
>[h] to trigger diffusiation of preceding vowels?

Good question. In (Andalusian) Spanish, -h (< -s) causes opening of
the vowel (-es > -E, etc.), rather than closing. But in Skt. sandhi,
we have the rule [-as >] -aH > -o:.