[tied] Re: Stative/Perfect; Indo-European /r/

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

>
>
> tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
>
> > 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/?

If we're not careful, we'll end up attributing /w/ > /v/ in Lao and
Khmer to French influence, mopping up a couple of large-scale
recipients of IE (more precisely, Sanskrit / Pali) loans.

Richard.