Re: *a/*a: ablaut

On 2008-02-14 05:03, Patrick Ryan wrote:

> I would be kinder.
>
> I think it is a last-ditch defense of a theory that has clay feet.
>
> We will se what Piotr says about what differed among the two *a's.

I think I have said it before: my opinion is that prior to the
development of ablaut PIE had two non-high vowel phonemes with the
approximate values *& (mid) and *a (low). The former became the "ablaut"
vowel *e/*o, the latter became *a/*a: (merging with those instances of
*e that got a-coloured).

Piotr