On 2007-06-06 22:15, tgpedersen wrote:
> Spirantization (GL) fails after it (GL) applied? Please rephrase ...
>
> And besides, I read 'fails' as 'exception'. What am I
> misunderstanding here?
"Fails" in the long run, in the sense that PGmc. has voiceless stops
(rather than fricatives) for PIE voiceless stops. The outcome of the
interaction of two regular changes may look like one regular change with
(regular, phonologically governed) exceptions. Whether GL was blocked
after stops and *s or reversed after voiceless fricatives, the results
are indistiguishable. It's also imaginable that *pt, *kt became *ft, *xt
(with fricative allphones of *p, *k) prior to GL and then GL happened
everywhere except after fricatives.
Piotr