Re: [tied] PIE *y > Alb. /z/ (was Re: Romanian Verb )

On 6/7/05, elmeras2000 <jer@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Abdullah Konushevci"
> <akonushevci@...> wrote:
>
> > > > Alb. [] /*s/ > /j/.
> > > > I remember that it was first mentiond this etymology by Mr.
> > Rasmusen.
>
> [Piotr:]
> > > Was it? I would still find it unacceptable. Neither *j > Alb. z
> > nor *-s-
> > > > Alb. -j- are independently established and generally recognised
> > sound
> > > changes, so you can't assume they are "regular" if that's
> > precisely what
> > > you set out to prove.
>
> I have NOT proposed a regular sound law "s > j" for Albanian. I have
> however, proposed an event of lenition of the expected product of *s-,
> viz. gj-, to Alb. j-. A good example is jo-në 'our' (fem.) from *sa: +
> enclit. *nos. Since IE *y- also gives Alb. gj-, I would assume that
> ju 'you' (pl.) is also a reduced form. And the verb to be certainly
> also qualifies, so janë 'they are' could be a reduced form of
> (expected) *gjanë from *senti or *sonti.

> Jens

************
I agree that /j/ is reduced form of /gj/, so we may freely explain
also Alb. <t•jatër/tjetër> 'other' from PIE *sm.-ter (s > gj > j and
/*m./ > a; cf. also Greek <heteros> 'id.'). Furthermore, I find very
useful Dodi's conclusion: "From voiced consonants /j/ is close to /q/
and /gj/ not only due to the features of the place of articulation,
but also for in folk idioms these sounds (q, gj) in certain positions
become /j/". (Anastas Dodi, "Fonetika dhe fonologjia e gjuhës shqipe",
ASHSH, Tiranë, 2004, pp. 102).
But, really I want to know do you found plausible my explanation that
Alb. demonstratives <ajo> from *H2eu- + saH2 > *au- + *sa:, as well as
<ai> from *au- + *so. And, at last, what do you think do we have in
Alb. possessive pronoun <ynë> is derived from *we- 'we' + enclitic
*nos, attested in <jonë>. The distinction between Pedersen's etymology
and mine is just this /s/, that, according to him, became zero, and,
to my view, <j>, probably through intermediary stage <gj>.

Konushevci