On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 00:07:28 -0800 (PST), Sean Whalen
<
stlatos@...> wrote:
>> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer
>> Vidal <miguelc@...> wrote:
>> >
>> > >> Because the merger a/o is Balto-Slavic.
>
> I think it's clear that the B-S words are
>both from the same proto-form. That's why
>I was using this example; to show that *wo
>and *wa had different outcomes in Slavic
>so the a-o merger didn't happen in proto-
>B-S.
Shoot, I forgot to make my point: we _know_ that *a and *o
were different phonemes at one time, and into Balto-Slavic.
We don't need your soundlaws (I use the term loosely) for
that: we have the real thing. Winter's law lengthens *o to
*o:, not to *a:. But the merger of /o/ and /a/ happened in
Balto-Slavic (i.e. before the break-up of Baltic and
Slavic), and the Slavic Auslautgesetze, which all date from
after the break-up of Balto-Slavic, make no distinction at
all between forms with etymological *o or *a.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
miguelc@...