Aquila:
> The reason may simply be a process of regularization
> of the durative/iterative expression in Anatolian,
> where the simple e-themes was outfaced by other
> themes existing in pre-IE. Actually the same kind
> of process that made nearly all English plurals end
> in -s.
I'm not sure about that but I'm really liking Piotr's
input even though I'm still skeptical about using
subjunctives here. I see potential with this train
of thought because I was already starting to see that
the root aorist form must have at one time been the
default form. Afterall, it is the least marked form.
The problems I was having however involved how to
explain the Tocharian pattern. After I think some
more, it could be possible for IE to still have
had thematic presents in *-e- with subjunctives
in *-ehe- > *-e:- without Tocharian reflecting it
very well.
I could imagine that any language that has an
opposition like indicative *bHereti and a subjunctive
*bHere:ti would simply do away with the length
contrast. It's terribly unstable I think because even
in English, the subjunctive is often replaced with
the indicative despite being more distinct in
form ("If I was" for "If I were"). So I think
simple merger could explain that away.
The subjunctives of the aorist however would be better
preserved because they involve the presence or absence
of a vowel instead, a phonetic distinction that is a
little more salient, affecting syllable count more
overtly for one thing.
= gLeN
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