--- Andrew Jarrette <
anjarrette@...> wrote:
> So it seems that the reflexes of the IE formation of
> neuter plurals are regular in Greek everywhere but
> in the o-stems. My question is why is this? It
> seems that Greek somehow saw the need to replace an
> expected *-a: (> *-e:) with <-a> instead, in the
> o-stem neuter plurals. What was the need? Or is
> there some other explanation?
I say the them. fem. nom. was -a:x < -axs just as
-o:r < ors and so on. Final x (H2) was dropped
word-finally after a(:) before VX > V: so the voc. and
neuter pl. were always short, no analogy with C-stems.
Similarly, -ix > -yax > -ya etc.; no *-yx. or
similar intermediate form.
This rule isn't just for Greek, but the exact
details differ among some languages.
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