From: Richard Wordingham
Message: 22660
Date: 2003-06-04
> On Wed, 04 Jun 2003 10:50:07 +0000, Richard Wordinghamreconstruction of
> <richard.wordingham@...> wrote:
> >As /a/ and /aa/ are [&] and [a:], Sanskrit provides a parallel to
> >both Miguel's 2-vowel PIE system (length contrast) and to Glen's
> >(height contrast).
>
> Actually, I don't have a two-vowel system anywhere in my
> pre-PIE. The stages I envisage are:It take it that by 'svarita' you mean subject to the 'svarita-rule'
>
> stressed unstressed svarita
> *á *á: *í *í: *ú *ú: *a *a: *i *i: *u *u: *a: *i: *u:
> reduction: short vowels become schwa, unstressed long vowels areshortened
> (except in svarita position), high long vowels are lowered. Former*i(:)
> and *u(:) are preceded by a y-glide (^) or a w-glide ("), exceptwhen
> followed by -y or -w (in the Auslaut, stressed *-í and *-ú aremaintained,
> as in the pronoun *tú):consonant
> This leaves:
>
> stressed *&' (*^&', *"&') *á: *^é: *"ó: (*-í *-ú)
> unstressed *& (*^&, *"&) *a
> svarita *a: *^e: *"o:
>
> The palatal and labial glides were absorbed by the preceding
> (*kW, *gW, *hW/*xW = *h3, etc.) or disappeared, only in morphemeinitial
> position were they maintained as *y and *w. Stressed &' is frontedto é,
> and so is unstressed *a, while *a: is backed to *o:, and unstressedlong
> vowels are shortened. *o: is shortened even in stressed position(at least
> in closed syllables).<Snip - more changes>
>
> We now have:
>
> stressed *é *ó (~ *ó:) *é: (*-í, *-ú)
> unstressed *& *e
> svarita *e *o
>
> This is the PIE system. In tabular form:I think you meant to have /e/ and /e:/ for *i in svarita position.
>
> stressed +Sz-length unstr. +Sz-length svarita +Sz-length
> *a é é: -- o: o o:
> *a- é/ó e/o
> *a: ó ó: e e:
> *i é é: -- o: o o:
> *-i í yé:(?) i ye: i ye:
> *i: é: -- yo:(?)
> *-i: yé: i yo:(?)
> *u é é: -- o: o o:
> *-u ú wé:(?) u wo:(?) wo wo:
> *u: ó ó: -- o:
> *-u: wó wó:(?) u wo:(?)