On 2007-01-29 02:37, tgpedersen wrote:
> Well, it does make the strange PIE assibilation *-tt- -> *-tsts- ->
> *-tt-/*st-/*-ss- part of something bigger and more natural.
But it doesn't explain why it was only the coronals that were affricated
before other stops. The allophonic rule in question (*t --> [c] before
another *t and possibly before other stops as well, if the "thorny"
metathesis was something like *tk > *ck > *kc) has no analogue for other
places of articulation. The affrication affected only the first *t in
PIE, cf. Hitt. azte:ni 'you eat'. The further assimilation of *-ct- >
*-cs- > *-ss- is a shared innovation of the western branches (Italic,
Celtic, Germanic).
Piotr