On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:43:01 +0000, tgpedersen <
tgpedersen@...>
wrote:
>The /a/ that follows in Latin is the main argument why the PIE plain
>velars must be different from the other two velar series
No. The main argument is that we have the correspondences:
"satem" "centum"
c' k
k k
k kW,
which point to three different sounds in the proto-language.
This is no different from what we have in e.g. Romance:
Latin Sardo rest
i i e
e: e e
e e E
Since Latin is attested, we know there were originally three vowel sounds
to account for the attested variation. We're not in a position where we
can conjure up a scheme where "/e/ is an artifact caused by the loan of
closed /e/'s into a language where front vowels alternated *i/*e and
*e-/*E- in paradigms", etc.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...