On 2006-09-04 15:45, Sergejus Tarasovas wrote:
> I see, but the whole point of Illic^-Svityc^, Kortlandt and their
> followers is that it was the segmental laryngeal itself, not its
> prosodic aftermath, that triggers Hirt's Law. Eg., Winternian acutes,
> indistinguishable from old *-Vh- as they are, don't retract stress, do
> they? That's why I asked.
I have yet to see a consonant that attracts the ictus by itself rather
than indirectly, through the effect it has on the neighbouring vowel.
Kortlandt interprets Winter's Law in glottalic terms -- something I
wouldn't subscribe to, as modal voicing is perfectly capable of
conditioning quantitative changes (with further prosodic consequences),
in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to insist that
consonantal laryngeals survived _that_ long. The "old iterative" acute
may have arisen at just the right stage, possibly after the loss of the
laryngeals but before Winter's Law and the loss of the *d/*dH contrast.
Piotr