Re: Absence of Labiodentals in PIE

From: Richard Wordingham
Message: 38181
Date: 2005-05-30

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "David Webb" <djwebb2002@...> wrote:
> Maybe they had no lips or teeth?

If the lips had been unsuitable for speech, there would have been no
/m/, /p/ or /bH/. Cf. the Iroquoian languages, which generally lack
labials other than /w/. (Cherokee /m/ is believed to be a recent
acquisition.)

Richard.