Re: [tied] *es- or *h1es- ?

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "etherman23" <etherman23@...> wrote:
> >
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > ***
> > > Patrick:
> > >
> > > No PIE root may begin with a vowel.
> >
> > That's the standard theory but not a single IE language lacks native
> > words with initial vowels.
>
> I had always understood that Farsi was an IE language. (I don't know
> whether the Daric variant of Modern Persian has initial vowels; it
> still has syllable-initial consonant clusters, whereas Farsi doesn't.)

If Farsi lacks vowel initial words it must be an innovation. The
oldest attested languages has vowel initial words.

> > Hittite, which generally retains
> > laryngeals, has no attested laryngeal for PIE *es.
>
> What attestation could you possibly expect for Hittite if the *h1
> were a glottal stop? Do we have ancient texts describing the
> pronunciation of Hittite?

Do glottal stops have a magical property that they can't have a
written letter associated with them?