Re: kentum/satem: why Lithuanian kg before e/i

> The jury's still out. My personal opinion is that Satem is likely to be
> a monophyletic grouping. But the palatalisation of PIE labiovelars
> (and/or plain velars) before front vowels is _not_ a satem synapomorphy
> (i.e. not a shared trait derived from their common ancestor) but a

later

> innovation that occurred at different times in various Satem lineages
> (but not in all of them).
>

Another interesting thing is that RUKI palatalisation varies with
ablaut of *(e)i: *pi:set (*peiset) -> pis^et, but *pisati -> *pIsati
(and -> psati in Czech). Thus the RUKI rule can't be synapomorphic
(nice word!).


Torsten