--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tombrophey" <TBrophey@...> wrote:
> I am unclear on whether the laryngeal survives this.
> I am unclear on what time frame you think that the zero-grade
change happens in.
Oh! I think I see what you are saying:
The laryngeal does not survive _in_addition_to_ the long vowel (i.e.
V:H); rather it survives _as_a_part_ of it (i.e. V: = VH).
And you _do_ think that zero-grade is a _Post-PIE_ phenomenon.
(My aside: It may not even be necessary then to say that the
laryngeal "lengthens" the vowel in PIE -- we may only need say that
it prevents it from changing to A, the Ablaut vowel.)
So if I understand you correctly, your theory is that Gk (only) *aH
is realized as /aa/, *eH as /ee/, and *oH as /oo/.
Zero-grade then reduces these in Gk (only) to a, e, and o,
respectively, as attested.
Conversely, in II (only) *aH, *eH, and *oH all become *aH, which is
realized as /aç/.
Zero-grade operating separately in II then reduces this to /ç/,
which is voiced as i, as attested.
If this is what you mean, then the weak point of your theory is the
notion that zero-grade operates separately in the daughter
languages. IMHO the economy of only one laryngeal is far outweighed
by the separate processes.
Tom