Re: [tied] PIE Stop System

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "P&G" <petegray@...> wrote:

> Yes it has been thought of before. But there are problems.

As there always will be :)

> Only Germanic allows an aspirated or affricate reflex of the
> traditional *T.

So does Indo-Aryan.

> Most languages which retain voiced consonants show voicing for the
> reflex of traditional *D. The exceptions are Armenian and
> Germanic.

Those are certainly the big ones, but some of the minor languages
agree. IIRC, so do Hittite and (partially) Tocharian.

> There are also indirect indications which are difficult to explain
> away.

True, but that will happen in any theory.

> Traditional *Dh etc seems to require voicing in all languages that
> keep voiced consonants, and seems to require aspiration in Latin,
> Greek and Sanskrit.

I would chalk these up to aspiration of the voiced stops when the
dialects were forming.

> Anything is of course possible, but the problems are not as easily
> disposed of as you suggest.

Indeed. Jens has raised some issues for me to look more closely at.