Re: IE Thematic Vowel Rule

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "etherman23" <etherman23@...> wrote:

>
> Okay, I just had an idea. Obviously this needs to be checked out

more,

> but I'll throw it out anyway. Let's assume that stress (at least in
> thematic verbs) was originally on the first syllable. Then Jens' Law
> applied only to post-stress vowels (i.e. the thematic vowel). As you
> pointed out earlier there are stressed thematic vowels, so we need an
> explanation for this. I'm suggesting that when the stressed syllable
> was closed the accent shifted to the next syllable.

You are inventing problems where none exist. My (or Saussure's)
thematic vowel rule applies to thematic vowels, stressed and
unstressed. Why does that demand an accent shift? The descriptive
status of the thematic vowels is fully sufficient to make them
eligible for this rule: They are stem-final vowels, and all stem-final
vowels act this was, be they accented or not. Some say they can't
accept that for a language they analyze; then they should analyze a
different language.

Jens