--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:
>
> I forgot to recognize the one pont Kazanas made with which I can
> agree.
>
> He asserted that Old Indian cerebrals/retroflex consonants were
> once a part of PIE.
>
> Actually, I think this very likely although no trace of them exists
> outside of India.
>
> I believe the retroflex consonants (apicals) originated as apicals
> followed by *o or by *WV in pre-PIE.
Retroflexion occurs in Sanskrit words of Indo-European origin
under clear and well defined conditions: In the Satem group
reflexes of Proto-Indo-European alveolar *s and *z assumed a
backed pronunciation (either palatal, pre-palatal, or post-
alveolar) when immediately following *r, *w, *c^, *k, or *j
(RUKI Rule). In Indo-Aryan, under the influence of substrates
in the subcontinent, these two sounds assumed a retroflex
pronunciation, and subsequently any immediately following *t,
*d, or *dh was itself assimilated to that position. Finally,
all voiced fricatives were eliminated in Indo-Aryan, including
the retroflex. Check the etymology of a few words containing
retroflexes for yourself, and you will see that most instances
of retroflex 't' follow a retroflex 's', and most instances
of reteroflex 'd' or 'dh' historically followed a *z.
The rules for the change of dental 'n' to retroflex 'n' are
more complex and would be more time-consuming to explain here,
but they apply no less automatically.
So you can see that Indo-Aryan retroflexion affected any and
every Proto-Indo-European *s, *z, *st, *zd, or *zdh following
RUKI, regardless of what may have followed in pre-PIE or even
PIE. In Sanskrit an immediately following 'r' can block the
retroflexion of 's', but that's a different matter and doesn't
ascend to P.I.E., as evidenced by Avestan where it doesn't
apply.
If P.I.E. or pre-P.I.E. ever had a retroflex series, it has
disappeared without a trace, or at least the retroflex series
of Indo-Aryan is no result of it.
David