New views on Syncope

Howdy folks,

I don't care anymore what anybody says about me. I like
simplicity. Call me a simpleton. I think that it's
the most logical way to go when developping theories.
I stick by it and strive to make things simpler until
evidence shows that something is too simple. Think of
me like an annoying but useful reiterative function
called Simplify. Feel free to invoke me anytime like
this:

new-and-improved-theory = Simplify(yucky-theory);

But careful, I'm ticklish.

--------------------------------------------------------

About the changes
-----------------
Up to now I've been talking about "Clipping" in
early Late IE, which is the unexpected reduction of
demonstrative postfixes like nominative *-s& (< *sa)
and inanimate/3ps *-t& to *-s and *-t respectively.
At the same time, there was the Suffix Resistance
Rule, an exception to Syncope, that stated that
monosyllabic suffixes of the form *-CV did not reduce
their vowel as expected (eg: MIE *-na > eLIE *-n&,
not **-n and thus IE *-no-).

Well, it turns out that greater simplicity is needed
here. For starters, the irregularity of Clipping and
the irregularity of Suffix Resistance can be combined
into ONE exception for Syncope, namely the exception
of Suffix Resistance. Clipping now falls under Syncope
and obeys the rule. As a result, this creates even
more simplicity than just the above.

The new view alters the chronological order of changes
in eLIE from...

Period Examples
-------------------------------------------------
1. late MIE *hWamaik:asa *kawana
2. Syncope/Suffix Res. *hWmigas *kwan-s&
3. Clipping *hWmigas *kwa:n-s
4. Misanalysis *hWmiga-s *kwa:n-s
5. Saussure *miga-s *kwa:n-s
6. a-Epenthesis *maiga-s *kwa:n-s

... to ...

Period Examples
-------------------------------------------------
1. late MIE *hWamaik:asa *kawana
2. Schwa Deterior. *hW'm'igas' *k'wan'
3. Misanalysis *hW'm'iga-s' *k'wan'-s'
4. Saussure *m'iga-s' *k'wan'-s'
5. a-Epenthesis *maiga-s' *k'wan'-s'
6. Syncope/Suffix Res. *maiga-s *kwa:n-s

As you can see, Syncope has simply been pushed later.
The effects during the changes are different but
the results are the same. The point of Syncope is
now just "Schwa Deterioration", the process where
unaccented *e and *a are reduced drastically to
*& [&.] and *' [&] respectively but still holding on
for dear life.

The latter theory makes the reasons for every process
here all the more clear while simplifying some things
at the same time. In the next explanation about
eLIE phonotactics, a "strong" or "open" vowel is
defined as *e or *a, and a "weak" or "closed" vowel
is one of syllabic *i, *u, *l, *m, *n or *r. The latter
set of vowels are the direct result of Syncope and did
not exist in Mid IE.


Conclusions and reflections on the new view
-------------------------------------------
1. Effects on a-Epenthesis (O-fix)
----------------------------------
So in the above list and examples, we now can see that
a-Epenthesis is just a process to _strengthen_ vowels
that were otherwise on the Syncope chopping block. The
motivation for strengthening vowels in a-Epenthesis was
in order:

1) to avoid overly complex consonant clusters,
that is, more than two phonemes long
(eg *m'iga-s' > *maiga-s'; thus *moigo-),
Hint: *m + *y + *g = 3 yucky consonants

2) to stop weak vowels from beginning the
default form of a stem
(eg *hW'w'ya-n' > *ahWuya-n'; thus
*ohWuyom "egg"),

3) to avoid monosyllabic, vowel-ending stems
from taking place (...Only pronominals
like *kWi- or *ta- could evade this rule)
(eg *sda-s' > *asda-s'; thus *osdo-)


2. Effects on Suffix Resistance
--------------------------------
We can also see that "Clipping" in fact is _regular_
and follows the normal rules of Syncope while Suffix
Resistance is the exact same strengthening of
Syncope-threatened vowels as with a-Epenthesis. However,
in the case of Suffix Resistance, the motivation to
strengthen is different: to avoid asyllabic suffixes.
Even still, this was to no doubt avoid the same
silly consonant clustering at the end of words as
a-Epenthesis served to prevent in the onset of words.

Thus *-na is reduced to *-n' by Schwa Deterioration
but it avoids final Syncope by being strengthened to
*-n&. This avoids expected asyllabic **-n. No more
explanation needed because eLIE *-n& regularly becomes
IE *-no-.


3. Summing everything up to "Strengthening"
--------------------------------------------
In summary then, Syncope was clearly a quick change
in the language that threatened to destroy all the
previous rules of Mid IE phonotactics. In order to
repair things, an overall process of Vowel Strengthening
was employed (whether by a-Epenthesis, by Suffix
Resistance or whatever other rule that took place at
the time).

The workings of this general macroprocess follows a
straightforward hierarchy according to the phonology
of the Schwa Deterioration stage:

*' > *& > *e/*a
( weak > strong > ultra-strong )

So we see *' strengthened to *& in Suffix Resistance
and a-Epenthesis. Once *' left the stage, *& was then
demoted to "weak" (along with post-Syncope *i, *u, *l,
*r, *m and *n):

*&/*i/*u/*l/*m/*n/*r > *e/*a > *e:/*a:
( weak > strong > ultra-strong)

This motivated further strengthening to full *a in
a-Epenthetic vowels to preserve the rules on valid
default stem forms. This new hierarchy, by the way,
would be used to set initial rules on a new quantitative
ablaut whereby ultra-strong alternated with strong,
and strong alternated with weak or zero.


But wait, no *a/*e alternation in eLIE??
----------------------------------------
Yes, I know what I'm saying here. It means that *a
alternated with *&, not *e as I previously thought,
as in eLIE *pa:d-s versus genitive *p&d-as (for
later *po:ds/*pedos). This is alright because the
instances of *i in compounds and reduplication is
evidence of how earlier *& behaves _before_ stress.
mLIE *& must have been raised to *[I] before accent,
becoming IE *i in an open syllable and *e in a
closed one (thus explaining elegantly Jens' *o/*i
conundrum). So the *& in *p&das regularly becomes
*e because it was pronounced *[pId'as] in mLIE
with high front [I]. (BTW, this *I does not seem
to lengthen like *& did before voiced segments so it
was probably distinct from *& by the time of Schwa
Diffusion.)


Time to shutup gLeN
--------------------
Now, I don't know whether I should talk about
Late IE's Stage I, Stage II and Stage III
phonotactics now or whether I should just haul my
vampire skin outside in the glorious daytime sun
for once. Neah, maybe I'll slap on the sunscreen...

Oh well, absorb that for a while. Till later.
Ciao tutti :)


= gLeN