Re: IE Thematic Vowel Rule

From: elmeras2000
Message: 39544
Date: 2005-08-07

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Rob" <magwich78@...> wrote:

> Well, do you have any idea as to what that "certain prominence"
was?
> I, for one, cannot answer those questions until I get more
> information about your ideas here.

But how can you say there was *no* special prominence in stem-final
vowels? That is what we observe, and denying it is a very strong
statement that demands good arguments in its favour. You do not seem
to accept that obligation. I find it relatively easy to guess at word-
final vowel lengthening (as in Avestan and Old Persian) operating at a
time before the flexives became fully attached. That woudl indeed
produce what we find. I do not know the development of many languages
over millennia, so I do not feel particularly embarrassed that I
cannot produce another one that does exactly the same.

Jens