On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 08:54:58 +0200, Piotr Gasiorowski
<
gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
>On 04-10-01 19:21, Miguel Carrasquer wrote:
>
>> The advantage of my theory is that it explains all the forms
>> (*mes ~ *wey ~ *weh1, *(y)us ~ *swey ~ *(y)uh3) as
>> reflecting non-oblique *-atu > *-esW, oblique *-ati > *-ey.
>> In the first person, the old oblique forms are favoured
>> (*wey, *weh1), in the second person, the old nominatives
>> (*(y)us, *yuh3), but *mesW [Armenian mek`, Lith. mes] and
>> *swey [Celtic *swi:, Hitt. suwe:s] certainly existed.
>
>I view *(j)us and *t/swei as reflecting the enclitic and orthotonic
>variants of something like *D-w-D, with an old epenthetic vowel in the
>strong form (*DweD > swei) and dissimilation in the weak form (*DwD >
>(j)us).
We're thinking along the same lines (lines that to me were
first suggested by Jens' article on the personal pronouns),
but we see the details differently. In the case of the 2nd.
person, there's plenty of reason to assume that the plural
and dual forms must ultimately derive from something
starting with *tu-/*tw-, to bring them in line with the
singular. Dissimilation can indeed explain *(j)us, but in
my view it's dissimilation of *tu-átu > *tWétW > *sWésW,
becoming *wésW > *úsW.
Labialization dissimilation also explains the shape of the
variant forms: the old nominatives had labialization in the
initial _and_ final segments:
*mu-átu > *mWécW
*tu-átu > *(c)wécW
*mu-íku > *mWéxW
*tu-íku > *(c)wéxW,
while the old obliques only had it in the first segment:
*mu-áti > *mWéc^
*tu-áti > *cWéc^
*mu-íki > *mWéx^
*tu-íki > *cWéx^,
Dissimilation of labiality produced the attested forms:
*mésW, *(y)úsW; --, *(y)úh3;
*wéy, *swéy; *wéh1, --.
The same kind of dissimilations are also seen in the verbal
endings:
sg:
*-mu > *-m(W) > *-m (*-w)
*-tu > *-c(W) > *-s
pl I:
*-mu-átu > *-mWécW > *-més(W)
*-tu-átu > *-tWé[cW] > *-t(W)é
pl II:
*-mu-án > *-mWén > *-wén
*-tu-án > *-tWén > *-tér
du I:
*-mu-íku > *-mWéxW > *-mWéx > *-wah2
*-tu-íku > *-tWéxW > *-tWéx > *-tah2
du II:
*-mu-íN > *-mWén > *-wén
*-tu-íN > *-tWén > *-tér
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...