The palatal sham :) (Re: [tied] Re: Albanian (1))

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

> >The evidence of comparative linguistics is, if anything, stronger

when it

> >operates between languages than within a single branch.
>
> That depends what we are trying to prove. If we are trying to

prove

> existence of a particular root or form, and reflexes of that root

or form

> are found in different languages, then that is stronger evidence

than

> finding them just in a single language. But if we are trying to

prove a PIE

> pattern involving more than one form, we have to find reflexes of

more than

> one form within the same language. Otherwise we only know that

some

> languages show this form, and some that - we can't prove that the
> alternation was a regular patterning in PIE.

I cannot find a good examples of acrostatic -o- alternating with
weak-case -e- in which the alternants are from the same language. We
have /pod-/ in Greek, /ped-/ in Latin, /do(:)m-/ in Armenian, /dem-/
in Greek, *nokWt- all over the place except Anatolian, *nekWt- only
in Hittite. Are we not allowed to combine them on the level of PIE?
And if we are, why must we not do the same with the forms of a-roots?

Jens