Re: Mi- and hi-conjugation in Germanic

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> (As van Coetsem has shown, *e:2 reflects PIE *ei with
> a-Umlaut: PIE *ei, *eu split into *ee > *e:2, *eo [a-umlaut]
> vs. *ii > *i:, *iu [i-umlaut]).


> If we depart from a PIE paradigm with *o ~ *e Ablaut in the
> hi-conjugation past, it is clear that the North-West
> Germanic forms in the preterite (A1..A3) have generalized
> the hi-conjugation plural (and, in NW Gmc. also the 2sg.)
> with *e-grade of the root.

The vocalism of strong class VII preterites in North and West
Germanic is *-e:2-, not *-e-. I do not think van Coetsem has "shown"
anything, but even if he is completely right, the e:2 vocalism is
only explained for diphthong verbs, and the alleged choice of i-
umlat form in the present would demand an explanation on top of
that, as would also the fact the the Gothic counterpart is
reduplicated. This looks desperate.

Jens