Re: [tied] PIE Stop System

----- Original Message -----
From: "Miguel Carrasquer" <mcv@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] PIE Stop System

> The thought that the three-way contrast in the velars (*k, *k^, *kW) is
due
> to former differences in vocalization (**ka > *ke, **ki > *k^e, **ku >
> *kWe), simple and elegant as it may seem, is not tenable for *k and *k^:
> the frequency of *k^ is simply too high in comparison with the low
> frequency of *k.

If *k comes from *ka, and *k' not only from older *ki, but also from *ke
(and in parallel maybe besides *kw < *ku also *kw < *ko) it would be
expected that *k would be less frequent than *k' (and *kw). In pre-PIE
there could very easily have been for instance just *ka > *k but on the
other hand *ke, *ki, *kü (u with Umlaut) > *k'. So the frequency of *k' and
*k proves nothing.

Mate