Re: The palatal sham :)

> > (b) The main argument for the existence of plain velars in PIE is
> the
> > correspondence:
> > Centum /k/ ~ Satem /k/
> > It has nothing to do with the vowel that follows.
>
> That argument on its own, of course, relies on Satem *not* being a
> tight-knit group. If it were, one could suspect dialect admixture,
> as in the case of British s- ~ st- > Welsh h- ~ s-, but with

several

> words showing s- > s-, such as _saith_ 'seven'.

"Satem not being a tight-knit group", it seems to me, is equivalent
to "IE-speakers staying off each other's territory". If they built
planes using a science that made similar assuptions, I wouldn't want
to fly in it.

Torsten