Re: [tied] *kW- "?"

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

> This is because uvulars are most likely to
> > colour *e to *a by assimilation of a particular
> > quality from the phoneme to the vowel: [+low]. Well,
> > uvulars naturally have that very quality! We may then
> > unite *q (trad. *k), *G (trad. *g) and *GH (trad.
> > *gH) with *h2 to form a more cohesive 'uvular'
> > class. It then can phonetically explain why there is
> > a near-absence of reconstructions with *qe or *eq. In
> > fact, it is more than likely that they are nothing
> > but post-IE mirages anyway.
>
> Let me get this straight: do you see the origin of the ablaut vowel
> (the "citation vowel" of most IE roots) as being /e/, backed to /a/
> near uvulars, or /a/, fronted to /e/ except near uvulars?

If I may interject, I find the latter to be more likely. Uvulars
tend to have a lowering effect on adjacent vowels (e.g. Quechua /i/
and /u/ become /e/ and /o/ next to /q/).

- Rob