Re: [tied] PIE Stop System

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Abdullah Konushevci"
<a_konushevci@...> wrote:

I hate to criticize anything as courageous as a survey of Albanian
soundlaws, but this was too provocative for my resistance. I guess
it is the idea with the list to get feedback. Well, here is some:

> 1. Evolution /*e/ > /je/
> We could say that generally PIE /*e/ was diphthongized in Albanian
> language in /ie/: *bher > bie/bjer `to bring', *degWh- > djeg `to
> burn', *gWher- > zjarr < zjerm/zjarm `fire', but *n-gWhre-sco- >
> ngroh `to warm', *pekW- > pjek `to burn, to ripen', *perd >
> pjerdh `to fart'.

ngroh is a "stative inchoative" of the Latin type in /-e:sco:/
(made:sco: 'am getting wet'), so here the -o- is regular from /e:/.

>
> 1.1. Evolution /*e/ > /ja/
> Bisedes evolution /*e/ > /ie/ its also common evolution /*e/
> /ja/,
> especialy before the nasals and liquids: *esmi > (unë) jam `(I)

am',

> *mel > mjaltë, but also *dek^s- > i djathtë `right', *H3ep > jap

`to

> produce'.

/ja/ is the regular product of *e before (some) old clusters.
Jap 'give' has optional j-, prs. jap jep jep or ap ep ep, so the
vowel is Alb. /a/.

> 1.2. Evolution /*e/ > /e/
> If verbs are prefixed and extended in PIE causative –eyo (in

Albanian

> usualy –enyo), than we have /*e/ > /e/: *n-degW-eyo > ndez `to
> light, to kindle, to fire' (cf. above *degW- > djeg `to burn'), *n-
> gWher-enyo > nxej `to heat, to warm up' (cf. above *gWher- >

zjarr).

The causative-iterative has *-o- in IE, thus *dhogWh-éye- > *dazi- >
n-dez with -e- by umlaut of *-a- from *o. - Nxej is a contamination
of nxeh 'warm' and ziej 'boil' which probably belong with Greek
zéo:, OHG jesan; the root is *yes-, but the morphology is hard to
make out; not a good basis for a soundlaw.

> 1.3. Evolution /*e/ > /i/
> If /*e/ is followed by consonantal cluster, the outcome is e-CC>i-

CC:

> *g^herzd(h)-, metathetic variant *g^hrezd(h) > drithë `cereals,

bread

> grains', *pezd- > pith, pidhi `vagine', *bhend- > bind `to

convince,

> to persuade'.

drithë corresponds to Greek kri:thé:, so the immediate preform
has /i:/; there was a relation of paradigmatic alternation between
these words and OHG gersta, Lat. hordeum, but that is not relevant
here. - In general terms, /i/ is the Alb. reflex of *e before
secondary clusters, but there are quite many unexpected forms.

>
> 2. Evolution /*-en/ > /-ân/ in Gegë dialect and /-ën/ in Toskë one
> *en esti > (g.) âshtë < ânshtë, (t.) është `is'; *g^enH-ter > (g.)
> dhândër, (t.) dhëndër `bridegroom, son-in-law', *po:r-ent-or >
> perandor `imperator' (only in Gegë dialect) and (g.) perendi <
> perandi (i-Umlaut) and (t.) perëndi `God'.

Since Geg distinguishes ê and â, âshtë is rather from *an-esti "ist
anwesend". That also applies to dhândër; perëndí etc. has no
phonemic vowel between /r/ and /n/ (variant perndí), the form with -
a- being a readjustment to a Vulgar Latin preform *imperantía (sic,
cf. the definite form perëndía); the retained /e/ of the first
syllable must reflect a secondary accent; the accent on *-ía
reflects Greek /-ía:/ (the type Italí, -ía).

> 2.1. Evolution /*-em/ > (g.) /-âm/, (t.) /-ëm/
> *tem-th > (g.) tâmth, (t.) tëmth anatomy `temple', *nem-a > (g.)
> nâmë, (t.) nëmë `curse, malediction'.

There is no precise etymology for tëmth, tâmth, certainly not with
secured *e. - namë "ist lautlich = gr. nómo-s" (Meyer), except of
course that the Alb. word is feminine, i.e. from */nom-a:/.

>
> 2.2. /-er/ > /ër/ in both dialects
> *g^enH-ter- > dhëndër `bridegroom', *derder- > dërdëllit <
> dërdërit `to murmur', *ma:ter > motër `sister'

All three examples have unaccented [ë] which may reflect *any*
vowel, or even zero.

> 3. /se-/ > /gja-/ in both dialects
> *serp- > gjarpër `snake', *s(w)eks- > gjashtë `six', *seuHk- >
> gjak `blood', *sem- > n-gjamë `similar'

'Snake' and 'six' are okay, except that the /a/ is part of a
diphthongization of *e to /ja/ (before old clusters) which is here
obscured by the preceding /gj/. - Gjak is most often understood as
*sokWos, identical with OCS sokU and Gk. opós 'juice', a fine
metaphor for blood. - ngjamë or just gjamë is the ptc. og ngjas or
just gjas, i.e. the -m- is the participial morpheme and not part of
the root; to boot, gj- is here from gl-, Buzuk glame; the prefixed
nasal is perhaps a reduced *som-.

>
> 4. Diphthongs
> /*ei/ > /i/: *gWei-tyo- > nxis < n-zis `to encourage, to urge',

*leig-

> > lidh `to tie, to bind', *g^heim- > dimër `winter', peik^- >
> pikë `spot'
> /*eu/ > /e/: *skeud- > hedh `to throw', *dheub-to- > det `sea'.

The two last are fine (except that the suffix should be *dheub-eto-,
the old sg. corresponding to the coll. seen in Goth. diupitha, Eng.
depth). - I do not see why any of the examples of ei > i really must
have full grade. Which ones cannot simply reflect *-i-?

Jens