Re[3]: [tied] Gemination in Celtic

At 4:50:05 AM on Friday, April 4, 2008, fournet.arnaud
wrote:

> From: Anders R. Joergensen

>>> So it impossible to find counter-examples to your law?
>>> Or what would a counter-example look like?

>>> Whenever we have a direct reflex of *-h2+k- in Eastern
>>> IE it's a different kind of *h2, right? Or whenever we
>>> have *-h2g- in all branches, it's just underlying
>>> *-h2g-. Aren't you afraid of a circular argument here?

>> This is still a major concern of mine. What would a
>> counter-example look like? Haven't you achieved complete
>> circularity?

> What do you call "circularity" ?
> When we see e a o in Greek, we point at H1 H2 H3
> Is it not complete circularity as well ?

No, because we have evidence from other IE dialects as well,
evidence that forms an interlocking, mutually supporting
structure.

> Why don't you try to understand what I'm saying instead of
> looking for counter-examples, before you have understood
> what's going on. I'm looking for examples, I don't know
> what a counter-example would be.

That is precisely the difficulty. A hypothesis that is
compatible with all possible data explains nothing. What
kind of evidence would count *against* your hypothesis if it
existed? Alternatively, what *independent* supporting
evidence exists? If the answer to both questions is 'none',
it's hard to see why anyone should believe it.

Brian