Re: PIE voiced aspirates (?)

--- P&G <G.and.P@...> wrote:

> >> > So could /w/ > /v/ in Latin have
> >> >originated under Etruscan influence?
> >> There is no /v/.
> >I'm talking about /v/ that developed in Vulgar
> Latin
>
> There two things are against you.
> Firstly, Etruscan influence had been almost
> totally eroded well before
> that change. The emperor Claudius wrote a grammar
> of Etruscan, but he may
> have been one of the last few people to know the
> language.
> Sceondly, we know the process of change begins
> with intervocalic /b/,
> which moves to the bilabial fricative /B/.
> Speakers seem to have confused
> the sounds of written <v> and >b>, hence some
> restructuring of the language.
> Then (as far as I understand it) after the merge of
> original /v/ and
> intervocalic /b/, the resultant /B/ moves to /v/.
> So Etruscan influence is not necessary or likley.
>
> Peter
>

I agree that Etruscan was on its last legs by 200 BCE
or so. But it probably influenced local nonstandard
forms of Latin, at least in Tuscany (don't worry, I'm
not blaming /xoxa xola/ on the Etruscans). In any
case, the changes started in the spoken language
before mass colonization. Etruscan is probably a good
a source as any but I agree it would be hard to prove
given that /B. v/ don't show up in the written
language until quite a bit later. If you think some
Italic language was responsible, tell us and show us
what you have.