On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 15:50:53 +0000, fortuna11111 <
fortuna11111@...>
wrote:
>Is there any theory connected with a disappearing /s/ giving an e-
>coloring of the preceding vowel in a word? Just pondering over
>something I noted down long ago with several question marks to
>remind me it needs to be checked. Could that have anything to do
>with what Jens said long ago on the e/o, voiced/voiceless
>relationship?
I don't think what Jens says about the thematic vowel (/e/ before
voiceless, /o/ before voiced) is connected with a disappearing /s/. We
simply have */e/ before */s/, and */o/ before */z/ (where -z later becomes
-s).
On the other hand, Jens' theory about the nom.pl. *-es is indeed connected
to a disappearing /s/ (or rather, a */z/). He can explain in more detail,
but the gist of it is that */-es/ is derived from nom.sg. *-z + plural *-s,
and subsequently **-zs > *-es.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...