Miguel bites:
>>*wat:er (> w�dr) -> coll. *wet:�r-xe
>>*t:�reu (> *d�ru) -> coll. *t:er�u-xe
>>*k:Wa:u (> *gWo:us) -> coll. *k:W�u-xe
>
>Well, seriously now, how does your "penultimate accent rule" explain
>the difference between the paradigms of *ph2t�:r(s), *ph2tr�s and
>*m�h2te:r, *m�h2tr(V)s?
To match your seriousness, might I ask how you can expect a
rule to solve ALL problems at the same time? The penultimate
accent rule accounts for the _overall_ irregularities in accent
existant in IE. It can't account for changes that have happened
later such as the acrostatic regularisation of thematic nouns,
for instance, or the prehistorically improper accentuation of
*m�h2te:r.
IE *pxte:r/*pxtros is perfectly expected by the PA rule and if the
word were in fact an ancient root, we'd expect it to end in a vowel
at one time. Unfortunately, it's a recently created term and
likewise so is *maxte:r. So, your question is laced with an
assumption that these words are ancient. All the family terms have
been altered or adopted in Late IE, usually given the *-xte:r ending
by analogy with *pxte:r. The words "brother" and "daughter" were
most probably *berawe and *deuk:e in Mid IE and one might speculate
that "mother" was *ame. It certainly wasn't a phonologically
complex *maxte:r for any length of time, since it would have
surely been reduced.
The paradigms of *xawi- "sheep" & *k^wo:n "dog", for example,
are better choices. They are certainly ancient roots. The PA rule
is simply that a stem with accent on final syllable is indicative
of a lost final vowel. In this way, an otherwise chaotic "mobile"
accent becomes a very regular accent always placed on the
penultimate syllable.
In this way, we reduce a mysterious irregularity to order. Isn't
that the purpose of rules afterall? Without this rule, we cannot
make proper sense of early accentuation in IE.
I've been meaning for the past few days to state this rule and
others explicitly online so that I don't have to keep explaining
myself. Keep tuned.
- love gLeN
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