Re: [tied] Nominative: A hybrid view

The vowel in

> >Abl. Sg. m/n is long, but it does include a thematic vowel

plus /a/,

> >or it could be an /a:/. Sanskrit alone, I guess, does not allow

any

> >conclusions on the length of the vowel.
>
> Actually, it does. Skt. -a:t can in principle reflect
> *-{e:|a:|o:}{t|d}, so the length is a given.

Yes, that's clear, but in a word like as'va:t (sorry, I have no idea
how to type all those symbols, so I type them after the word and I
hope it's readable so) you have /as'v-a-/ whereby the /a/ is the
thematic vowel, so to get a long vowel, the ending could contain
an /a/ or an /a:/. So unless you compare with other languages, it
is hard to say if the vowel in the ending is short or long, since
*e, a, o also become /a/ in Sanskrit.

If we add Latin -o: (Old

> Latin -o:d) the only remaining possibilities are *-o:t and *-o:d.

I was not discussing the color of the vowel, only the length.

> Unfortunately, neither Slavic -a nor Lithuanian -o (both from *-o:

(C)

> or *-a:(C)) can shed any further light on the nature of the final
> consonant, although the Balto-Slavic accent does establish that the
> vowel was not only long, but circumflex (contracted from -VV-).

Yes, I checked this in my notes. I also have the Abl. ending with
question marks on the /a/ or /o/ coloring and on the /d/t/. Apart
from the case when it simply coincides with genitive, as it
happens.

> Some time ago, I suggested here that the Slavic adjectival and
> pronominal genitive ending -ego/-ogo (northern Russian /-Ivó/ ~
> /-&vó/) can also be derived from the ablative endings *-eo(t),
> *-oo(t), with glides /h/ (> /g/) or /w/ (> /v/) to break the

hiatus.

That sounds interesting, but I would, of course, wonder how one
would explain genitive taking on the ablative ending. Is this often
the case in other languages? The theoretical basis behind such a
statement would intrigue me. I should get a bit deeper into
Slavistik next semester, so I will anyway be confronted with the
same questions. I speak two Slavic languages fluently without ever
having to look at them diachronically, so all that you say in this
direction is totally new to me - and appreciated.

Eva