From: elmeras2000
Message: 29902
Date: 2004-01-22
--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:
[...]
> Do you mean something like:
>
> **ka -> *k
> **ki -> *k^
> **ku -> *kW
Yes.
> The problem with such a hypothesis is that then we would expect the
> frequency of *k^ to be about the same as the frequency of *kW,
when in fact
> it's much higher. It is in fact the frequency of *k which is
comparable to
> that of *kW, both well below the frequency of unmarked *k^.
No, we should expect the frequencies of the three velar series to
match that of the earlier vowels as they were before they coalesced.
How frequent each one was - and how many there were of them - will
probably remain open for some time. The IE velar system may even be
the best piece of evidence for now.
Incidentally, if the same thing happened to IE itself (and in Indo-
Iranian one part of it did), then the common weight of the
palatalizing vowels /i/ and /e/ would completely outbalance that of
the potentially rounding /u/ and /o/. So, all it takes is that there
once was a language much like Indo-European. I could imagine that.
Jens