Re: [tied] Nominative: A hybrid view

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "fortuna11111" <fortuna11111@...>
wrote:

> Hi again Jens,
>
> The Sanskrit ending of a-stems is /-a:t/
> > whose consonant alternates in sandhi between /-d/ and /-t/
> depending on
> > whether or not the following word begins with a voiced
> segment; since
> > original /-t/ and /-d/ alternate the same, the language is
> incapable of
> > telling us which consonant is really at play here.
>
> Just wanted to say thank you for reminding me the vowel in the
> ending is long. I see a long vowel in the ending of a-stems (m/
> n), of which, of course, one a should be the thematic vowel, the
> other could be a short or a long /a/. I am not closely

acquainted

> with the actual PIE reconstructs of those endings, but I would
> naturally wonder if the /d/ and /t/ alternated in the

protolanguage,

> as they do in Sandhi in Sanskrit, or if the vowel was originally
> long or short, again, since you can hardly see it in Sanskrit (I
> guess you get the answers from comparisons with other
> languages and I would be happy to know more about this).
>
> I am now trying to switch from a long-standing interest in
> synchronic analysis of particular languages to historical
> linguistics. I may come to track some time in the near future :-

)

> Until then I would appreciate any friendly comments of generous
> souls, who would want to share their knowledge and experience,
> or just wild ideas. This should be the point of this list, or am

I

> totally wrong?
>
> Eva

You are totally right, Eva. And I am sorry if I short-changed you on
Skt. "-at" which may of course well be segmented off in a perfectly
defensible analysis of -a:t as -a-at. Running the risk of sounding
condescending you are indeed showingg the attitude we need in
historical and comparative linguistics. Welcome aboard.

Jens