On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:03:42 -0500, "Patrick Ryan"
<
proto-language@...> wrote:
>Miguel, have you no further interest in critiquing my 'Vocalic Theory', as
>you called it?
>
>Your questions help me to clarify it in my own mind so are greatly
>appreciated.
I think I said all I had to say for now.
In theory, if you have two parameters (a laryngeal and a
vowel) you can vary one while keeping the other constant,
and viceversa, and the results will be indistinguishable.
In practice, there are two differences between laryngeal
theory and your 'vocalic theory': (1) laryngeal theory
distinguishes between VH and HV, and (2) laryngeal theory
allows combinations of HVH where the two laryngeals are not
the same. In case (1), laryngeal theory accounts for the
facts in a straightforward way, while your theory requires
additional rules at the very least. Case (2) simply cannot
be explained by any 'vocalic theory'.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
miguelc@...