On 2008-10-31 23:40, Arnaud Fournet wrote:
> I'm afraid you'll have to provide much more explanation to explain your two
> previous explanations.
OK. Slowly and distinctly. In those IE branches that lost the laryngeals
compensatory lengthening took place in the following contexts:
(1) Word-finally, as in *newah2 > *newa:
(2) Before a consonant, as in *seh1mn. > *se:mn. or *doh3-t > *do:t
In both cases the laryngeal was originally in the same syllable as the
lengthened consonant. If, however, the laryngeal was followed by a vowel
or a syllabic consonant, it was syllabified together with it, and its
loss caused no lengthening of the _preceding_ syllabic segment. I will
use a comma for syllable boundaries. Thus:
*na,h2us > *na,us (disyllabic scansion of <naus.> in the R.gveda)
*h2we,h1n.,tos > *we,(h)n.,tos (> Av. va'ata-)
*gWr.,h3e,ti > *gWr.,(r)e,ti > *gW&,re,ti (> Skt. giranti)
*su,h1e,ti > *su,(w)e,ti (> Skt. suvati)
etc.
Piotr