Patrick Ryan pisze:
> Is this pre-PIE fourth vowel [&] generally accepted now in PIEist circles?
There isn't much discussion of pre-PIE vowels, so it's hard to say if
there is any kind of consensus about the "pre-proto" system. I suppose
it's widely accepted that the *e/*o/*zero ablaut pattern is derivable
from a single vowel (no matter what its precise quality -- *e would do
just as well as *&) and that most *a's, and many *o's, are due to the
laryngeal colouring of an original *e. Those who believe in a
"fundamental" *a(:) vowel are left with little choice. They must either
reconstruct a second non-high vowel, lower than the first (i.e. an *e/*&
: *a contrast) already in pre-PIE, or treat all non-laryngeal *a roots
as somehow extraneous (borrowed, onomatopoeic -- whatever).
Piotr