On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 04:49:46 -0500, Patrick Ryan
<
proto-language@...> wrote:
>Well, let me ask this question: do you know of any IE root in the form *gWew-?
>There are usually several for every other IE consonant (except *ke and *w).
As long as we're speculating, my view on the emergence of
labiovelars in PIE is the following.
The first stage occurred when pre-PIE still had the vowels
*u and *u:. A stressed *ú(:) labialized a following coronal
(e.g. **mátnu:t- > *méh1not-, but *matnút-a:s > *meh1nésos,
with *s < *tW). A following velar was possibly always
labialized, even if the *u(:) was unstressed.
The second phase occurred after Pre-PIE *i and *u (also
unstressed *i: and *u:) had developed to *(y)& and *(w)&,
and *í: and *ú: to *(y)e: and *(w)o:. A preceding velar was
labialized. But *u before a following *w, **u did not give
*w&, but simple *& (> *e). We see that in the u-stems,
where the e.g. the genitive **-ú(w)-as gives **-&w&s >
*-eu-s, not **-w&w&s > **-weus (but nominative **-u-z >
**-w&-s > *-us). That would explain the lack of *gWew-.
The "cow" word had a long *u:, where the develpment was
apparently different: **g-ú:-w- > **g-wó:-w > *gWów-.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...