Re: [tied] Origin of Proto-Germanic Distinguishing Features

> > Ablaut patterns in nouns are best seen
> > in Greek or Sanskrit, though also traceable in Baltic (especially
> > Lithuanian) and Slavic accentuation.
>
> I don't get it. How for one does Lithuanian accentuation reflect PIE

ablaut

> patterns in noun? ....it's the
>PIE stress rather than ablaut pattern which is the ultimate cause ...

You are kind enough to expect me to be saying something worthwhile. I mean
only that in Baltic and Slavic the same accent/ablaut patterns can be traced
in nouns as we have to reconstruct for Greek and Sanskrit. Therefore those
patterns are not an aberration of the Greek-II cluster. Therefore they can
be reconstructed for PIE. Therefore it is wrong to state that Germanic
uniquely preserves, or best preserves, the PIE ablaut pattern. It was a
comment in response to a claim about Germanic, not a comment about
Lithuanian.

Peter