[tied] Re: Indo-Iranian Vowel Collapse (was: IIr 2nd Palatalisation)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:

>
> Rob wrote:
>
> > A couple off-topic things:
> > 1. Why is the Modern English word 'calf' and not *chealf (pl.
> > *chealver)?
>
> The form <cealf> is West Saxon, and, as Richard has already
> pointed out, modern standard English is mostly (East-)Anglian-
> based (it also has <cold> from Anglian <cald> rather than West
> Saxon <ceald>).

Aha. I was not aware of that. So it seems like the two dialects
diverged in their treatments of */a:/ -- West Saxon fronted it (like
Norse and German) while Anglian backed it (like Frisian and Dutch).
The question is, then, did palatalization occur before they
diverged, or after?

> > 2. Is Modern English 'child, children' an es-stem (*kild-iz-,
> > pl. *kild-iz-o:) as well?
>
> The nom.pl. <cildru> (beside <cild>) and gen.pl. <cildra> indicate
> an iz-neuter, which of course doesn't necessarily mean that the
> formation goes all the way back to PGmc. It may have arisen on the
> analogy of *kilbiz-. The modern plural represents a Middle English
> reflex of <cildru> plus the weak-noun plural ending, which was
> often slapped on minor-declension plurals for good measure.

Yes, I had a feeling that the -en in "children" was analogical.
Thanks for confirming that.

- Rob