Re: kentum/satem built-in already in PIE?

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 45616
Date: 2006-08-03

On 2006-08-03 15:07, tgpedersen wrote:

> But we were talking about *sj -> s^. Does it occur in the same rule?

Yes. *s (of any origin) and *x (usually from *s in RUKI contexts)
yield *s^ when followed by *j, and *z (from *g^(H)) yields *z^ in the
same position. This is visible not only before the *-je- forming
present stems in Leskien's Class III (*pis^oN 'I write', *veNz^oN 'I
bind', etc.) but e.g. in Class IV (i-stem verbs), where stem-final *i
alternates with asyllabic *j found in prevocalic positions, i.e. in
the 1sg. and 3pl.:

OCS voziti 'transport'

voz^oN
vozis^i
vozitU

vozimU
vozite
voz^oNtU


OCS prositi 'ask'

pros^oN
prosis^i
prositU

prosimU
prosite
pros^oNtU

The same of course happens whenever comparative or internal evidence
points to *sj etc., for example in the root *sjuh1- 'sow' (Slavic
*s^iti < *sju:ti:), or in *dus^a 'soul' < *dHous-j-ah2 (cf. duxU
'ghost, spirit' < *dHous-o-s).

Piotr