From: tgpedersen
Message: 39317
Date: 2005-07-19
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...>wrote:
> > On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 23:19:48 -0500, Patrick Ryanaudible
> > <proto-language@...> wrote:
> >
> > > PIE is the only language in the world for which 'coloring'
> laryngeals have been proposed.
> >
> > Open any book on, say, Arabic phonology.
>
> I'm not sure what Miguel is talking about (I'd guess
> pharyngealisation, where the consonant contrast is principally
> on the vowels, especialy /a/), but I'm on surer ground with Hebrew.vowel
>
> In Hebrew the 'laryngeals' have an a-coloring effect. A final
> non-quiescent laryngeal is preceded by an a-vowel, be it only a
> 'futive pathah'. It's quite striking that in the imperfective qal,
> the final vowel of transitive verbs before final ayin is (usually?)
> /a/, whereas /o:/ is more typical of transitive verbs before
> non-laryngeal consonants. In segholates, the final, anaptyctic
> is generally /a/ before laryngeals, e.g. /zéra`/ 'seed' with finalprototypical
> ayin, /méla.h/ 'salt' with final heth, as opposed to the
> segholate /mélek/ 'king'. (I've omitted the overwhelminglyfrom Møller: Vergleichendes indogermanisch-semitisches Wörterbuch,
> predictable fricativisation.) There are gradations in effect with
> medial laryngeals, e.g. /bé'er/ 'well' with aleph, /léhem/ 'bread'
> with he, but /ná.hal/ 'wadi' with heth, /ná`ar/ 'boy' with ayin.
>
> Except next to front vowels, the non-initial Middle English velar
> fricative was o-colouring, whence the spelling -ugh-.
>