> I've read that the three postulated laryngeals (e.g., for Greek),
> deleted within the history of each IE language. Is there any
> body of data consisting of alternations which demonstrate vowel
> coloring, aspiration of stops, other innovations ascribed to
> the laryngeals.
Yes, there is quite a substantial body of such "alternations" as you call
them, from several different language groups. Here's some ideas:
Peter
General
(a) apophony: long vowel / a~i / Ø
(b) the pattern ReC : aRC < HReC ~ HeRC
(c)"Long" resonants e.g. Skt purna < *pr:na < ** pr.H-no-
Sanskrit
1. set. roots
2. Class 9 present tenses: strong -nâ, weak -niC / -nV < *-neH ~ *-nH.
3. Apparent exceptions to Brugmann's law
4. Aspirates where other languages have no aspirate.
5. kh not palatalized before e, i, y, and alternates with c and k < *kHe,
*keH, *koH
6. Vedic hiatus
7. Vedic short forms in pausa, on words ending in long vowel.
8. Skt ir, ur regularly corresponds to a PIE vocalic resonant followed by
a laryngeal.
9. Skt iRi
10. Skt i ~ Ø
11. Avestan Ø ~ Skt i
12. Lengthening before a root, for example:
· â-yunak ~ yugam ~ iugum suggests laryngeal
· ap (âpas) water: at the end of a compound âpas may appear as
apa, or after -i, -u as îpa, ûpa. This indicates a laryngeal at the
beginning of the word.
13. ?reduplication of root inserting -i-
gan-i-gm-at < Hgen-Hgn- (many anaological forms, though)
Greek
1. prothetic vowel in some cases.
2. lengthening in prefix before prothetic vowel or R.
3. lengthening in negatives, e.g. nwfelhV ~ ofeloV < h³bhel-; and nhpioi.
4. -ew verbs where the -e- is not lengthened in future or aorist. This
includes the Attic contracted futures in accented -w.
5. Alternation of ere (or ara) with rh / ra e.g. teretra ~ tetrhna (pf)
(Homer Od 5) < *trH "drill"; cf terew Pokorny 1071 eregma < *wrh¹g' ~
rhgnumi
Greek raC ~ ara is also found in Italic and Celtic. In other languages no
such difference (
6. Neuter plural i & u stems, and feminines in ih²
Gk has -ia, -ua, other languages have -i, u.
potnia ~ patni Myc has po-ti-ni-ja
-teira eg geneteira ~ janitri, Lat gen-tri-c-
ferousa ~ bharanti (for type cf Lith vezanti, Goth frijondi)
Lithuanian
Acute accent without voiced stop
Serbo Croat
Serbocroat ä (double grave) (falling tone on a short vowel) < *oH
(important evidence!)
Likewise ë, ü < RH
Latin
-ui perfect on 3rd decl verb. (v/u was put on a vowel or laryngeal stem;
appears in our texts as -u- after consonant). There are two or three
exceptions.
Hittite
Non-assibilation of *-ti. eg. 3 sing -zi > *-ti, but perf 2 sg -ti < *tHe