Re: IE Thematic Vowel Rule

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

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "elmeras2000" <jer@...> wrote:
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Is 'stem-final' a phonological term?
> >
> > Not directly. It's a morphological term, and the rule is
> > synchronically a morphophonological rule. Such rules generally
> reveal
> > that certain parts of the morphology earlier offered specific
> > phonological conditions that caused the changes underlying the

rules

> > observed. That's the way internal reconstruction works.
> >
>
> Yes, yes. And in this case, those specific phonological conditions
> were ...? If I may anticipate your answer, the only way the

thematic

> vowel might have been in a specific phonological condition is by

being

> word-final at some time. But that would mean that the composition

of

> the isolated stem with the person and number endings postdates the
> creation of the thematic stem. Now that's daring, I'd say.

Is it? It is what we observe, if by "composition" you mean "fusion
into a single word". Why does that never count?

Jens