Miguel:
> True. If PIE had had *q, *k, *kW (and then, on
> typological grounds, necessarily also *qW), [...]
No! Ironically on typological grounds, **qW would be
far less likely than all three put together! In such
a system, labialization and uvularization would be
marked over and above "plain":
labialized uvularized
*k - -
*q - +
*kW + -
A phoneme **qW would be _doubly marked_ and would be
far more unstable. No doubt, it does exist in some
languages such as the NWC lgs, but this is a
_rarity_ -- hence my very point that **qW is wholely
unnecessary in IE.
Instead, any instance of *phonetic* /qW/ in IE would
simply be an allophone of the phoneme *kW.
> That *k was not [q] anymore by the time of the
> split-up of PIE is shown by the fact that we
> also have *ke, without colouring.
I question whether such items should even be
classified as "IE" so much as "post-IE".
= gLeN
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