On 2008-11-06 03:35, etherman23 wrote:
> Pretty interesting that *h2 doesn't occur before labiovelars.
I actully overlooked one example: *sleh2gW-
For the sake of completeness: the other laryngeal before stops in LIV
verb roots:
With *h1
*reh1p-
*seh1p-
*kWeh1p-
*welh1bH
*reh1t-
*(s)kweh1t-
*sk(^)eh1tH- (sic)
*leh1d
*g(^)reh1d-
*bHeh1dH-
*reh1dH-
*pleh1k^-
*seh1k^-
*bHreh1g^-
*wreh1g^-
*bHeh1g^H-
*leh1g^H-
*sleh1(g^)-
*h2reh1g(^)-
*dHeh1k-
----------
With *h3:
*k(^)leh3dH-
*treh3g(^)-
*pleh3k-
*bHeh3g-
----------
With an unidentified laryngeal:
*dHehbH
*sehdH
*skeht-
*wehg^H-
*sreihg(^)-
*bHreuhg(^)-
*derhgH-
*deihgW-
----------
Of corse not all these reconstructions are uncontroversial; I would take
issue with quite a few of them myself. For example, of the four roots
with *h3, *k(^)leh3dH- is attested only in Greek (and the k(^)..dH
structure is odd, so the LIV authors themselves consider the possibility
that *dH is a late suffix here), *treh3g(^)- mostly in Greek (with some
little support from Tocharian), and *pleh3k- in Tocharian and Latin
(with some formal difficulties). *bHeh3g- fares a little better, with
possible reflexes in three branches (Greek, Germanic and Slavic).
If one accepts all the LIV roots for the sake of the argument, the
following root-structure generalisations seem justified:
(1) *h3 is extremely rare before stops
(2) Laryngeals are extremely rare before labiovelars
The distibution of *h2 is strangely skewed. It's common before *k(^) and
*g(^), but not before *g(^)H-. If *h2 was a dorsal fricative, this may
be due to some sort of dissimilatory filter. Another strange thing is
its absence before the least marked coronal stop, *t. On the other hand,
LIV has as many as 13 roots with final *-th2 (as against one with *-th1
and none whatsoever with *-th3). Perhaps in some of them there was a
metathesis of *-h2t- to *-th2- or "Olsen preaspiration" of *-h2t- >
*-tH-. One would have to re-analyse the data carefully withy these
possibilities in mind.
Piotr