--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Mate Kapovic" <mkapovic@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> > What silliness is this? Why would a pre-Balto-Slavic set masc. *-
> > ons, fem. *-aH2s change to *-oH2ns, *-aH2s? This does not even
look
> > analogical.
>
> *-n- was certainly introduced in Lith. and Slavic in eh2-stems and
then we
> have *-eh2ns : *-ons and because of the acute in Lith. we have to
have
> *-oh2ns analogically. Laryngeal *definitely* produces BSl acute, for
a
> simple long vowel that is very doubtful. Very simple really...
We only need *-oH2ns analogically if that is the only preform that
creates an acute. It is not, pure length does the same - unless
evidence on which this insight is based is constantly being doctored
away.
There is acute in the Slavic reflex of *se:k- 'cut' (SCr sje` ` c'i)
and in Lith. súolas 'bench' (vs. *sel- in OSax. selmo).
The doctrine that pure length produces circumflex is based on a long
series of root nouns (thus explicitly Kortlandt in Baltistica 22), but
the trouble with root nouns is that the one form that was born with a
long vowel, i.e. the nominative singular, was also monosyllabic.
Therefore one cannot know whether the observation drawn from this
(which is indeed a very solid observation) is that lengthened-grade
vowels have circumflex, or that monosyllables have falling tone. The
latter is certainly true: Lith. ju~s (: júduN), tie~, nuo~, Slov.
ti^, mi^, vi^, ta^, kri^. Especially clear is the Lith. future dúosiu
dúosi dúosiva dúosita dúosime dúosite with 3rd person duo~s. These are
archaisms that cannot be explained as analogical on a prodoctive
pattern. The same will be true of some root aorists by and da which
form SCr. bi^, da^ and so differ from the tone of the infinitive.
There is also acute in Lith. várna 'crow', a vrddhi derivative from
var~nas 'raven', the old relationship between the genders being as
with Germanic *ho:n-a- vs. *han-an-(Huhn/Hahn). I see no way of
getting a laryngeal into the root segment of várna.
Thus, if plain length does produce acute, there is no call for
laryngeals in Lith. acc. nósiN 'nose' and sólymas 'brine' either; they
can have simple lengthened grade *na:s-, *sa:l-, the regular
alternants of the Sanskrit root segments of nas- and salilá-.
And there is no need to push a laryngeal into the prehistory of the
Lith. acc.pl. in -ùs, -úos-ius.
There may not be many places where it can be determined whether a
given long vowel is laryngeal-triggered or not. I have produced those
I find decisive. On this background the doctrine that pure length
produces circumflex just cannot stand. If one assumes something else,
it will have to be without any foundation for it.
Jens