On 2006-09-20 01:20, tgpedersen wrote:
> *-u.gná -> *-ug.gná- -> *-ug.gá- ? Nah. Let's leave it at 'perhaps'.
Something very similar (minus the dependence on accent) happened later
in West Germanic before *j and less regularly before the liquids *r ans *l:
*si.tjan > *sit.tjan (OSax. sittian) > OE sittan
*sa.ljan (cf. Goth. saljan, ON selja) > *sal.ljan > OE sellan (the
loss of *j was later than i/j-umlaut in pre-English, cf. OSax. sellian)
*li.Gjan > *lig.gjan > OE licg(e)an
*su.njo: > *sun.nju > OE synn
*a.plo:s (nom.pl.) > *ap.plos > OE æpplas, hence nom.sg. æppel
etc.
Only /r/ (whether original or from WGmc. rhotacism) wasn't geminated,
and after it the *j remained, cf.
*nazjan > *narjan > OE nerian
As for progressive assimilation swallowing up an *n, the same happened
in *-rn- and *-ln- groups (the latter already in Common Germanic about
the same time as Kluge's Law):
*ster-n-o:n (twice extended with a nasal suffix) > *sterro:n > OE
steorre (but Goth. staírno:)
*fulna- > *fulla- > OE full
Piotr