Re: *d-/*H-

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
>
> Everyone balks at an alternation *d-/*H- such as there supposedly

is

> in the PIE word for "two" *dw-/*Hw-. How odd that it occurs in

Malayo-

> Polynesian too:
>
> *hipaR "opposite side of a river"
>
> dipag "other side, opposite side" Mansaka
> dehipag "the opposite side of
> a canyon or valley" Manobo
> difar "the other side, in the sense
> of the side facing the speaker" Tiruray
> 'ifar "to cross over to the other side
> (as of a river or street)"
> se'ifar tamuk "to negotiate formally
> the terms of a brideprice"
> dipah "opposite bank of a river" Mukah
> dipah "opposite bank of a river" Kayan

(Baluy)

> dipar "opposite side" Kelabit
> dipah "either of the sides of a river" Uma Juman

I don't see any _alternation_ here, merely what may be unconditional
changes. There's much more of an alternation in *English* between
[t] and [?], which some would argue are the phonetic realisations in
PIE (or its earlier stages) of *d and *h1.

Richard.