From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 49863
Date: 2007-09-08
On 2007-09-08 03:27, stlatos wrote:
[I snip the part where you reproach me for changing my views without
informing the list. I plead guilty as charged. I try to do my best to
signal my conversions but I lead too many linguistic discussions on
several lists as well as in my professional environment to keep track of
everything. When it happens, please believe it's an involuntary
omission, not deliberate evasion, on my part. If you find my desultory
practice irritating, I'll try to mend my ways.]
> But thalos and thallos are; I'm sure you're thoroughly familiar with
> all the means through which one word can split into two due to option
> rules, dialect mixing, etc.
Yes. And by comparing Greek with other languages I've been trying to
identify the factor responsible for the variation _in this particular
word family_. Other things may be involved elsewhere. I don't claim I
can prove I'm right and you're wrong. It's quite evident that our
reconstructive preferences are somewhat different. You seem to be aiming
at solutions that allow you to generalise and explain a wide range of
forms at one fell swoop. There is a formal cost attached to that: you
posit quite a number of extra phonological contrasts and draw long lists
of rules, some of them optional or producing variable output. I prefer a
simpler and more orthodox phonology, less complex reconstructions and
more tightly constrained changes. I realise there's also a price to pay
for that -- a possible loss of generality, more frequent recourse to
analogy, etc. I'm not sure which option is ultimately more productive. I
trust my conservative attitude, but I respect yours as well. You should
try to publish your ideas in a systematic way for easier reference. They
are scattered over hundreds of postings and that often makes it
difficult to evaluate and discuss your proposals.
> I thought only the accent on -o- was known, was the accent on -a-
> just a mistake or from some other dia.?
You mean "pHállos"? Oh, it was just my mistake (false inference from
<pHállaina>, I suppose). Sorry.
Piotr