Re: [tied] Re: PIE Word Formation (2)

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 44105
Date: 2006-04-04

On 2006-04-04 09:31, P&G wrote:

> However many vowels you give it, it is extremely odd as a language, in that
> it seems to use only e (or o in relatively predictable situations) for full
> grade stems.

This is true of derivational affixes, but not necessarily of roots,
where I believe fundamental *a was also a possibility, not to mention
primary *i and *u (though the relevant evidence is frustratingly hard to
interpret), and perhaps unpredictable *o (I have strong doubts about
this one). In inflectional endings, too, there seems to have been more
freedom than in derivational morphemes, and perhaps vowel qualities were
not quite predictable there.

Piotr