From: Andrew Jarrette
Message: 36615
Date: 2005-03-03
> Are you saying that the replacement of /w/ by /v/ in all IE
languages that have done this is due to French influence? A change
that is so widespread I would think would be carried out
independently in all the languages in which it occurred (e.g. I
hardly think that French influence accounts for /v/ in Lithuanian).
It took place in stages. French influenced German, German influenced
north and south. Baltic German influence perhaps? According to
Piotr, /w/ is alive in Belarussian.
Torsten
_________________That's interesting that /w/ (from IE *w?) is alive in Belarussian - English is therefore not alone (but if /w/ survived in Belarussian, why did it disappear in /kw/ /gw/ /gwh/, which became k/c^ and g/z^?). But I still have difficulty believing that French alone is the ultimate cause of /w/ > /v/ in so many diverse languages, even Sanskrit (admittedly the /v/ of Sanskrit was apparently an approximant rather than a fricative)? You say this as though it is a documented fact, not just a theory. Is it the orthodox view of the origin of /w/ > /v/?
Andrew