From: Andrew Jarrette
Message: 63575
Date: 2009-03-05
>Surely you mean *KW > *K before *u or *u:? I don't need to mention *hwat, *hwehwl, *hwerfan, etc.
> At 9:00:11 PM on Wednesday, March 4, 2009, Andrew Jarrette
> wrote:
>
> > I forgot to mention that Torsten reiterated his theory
> > about PIE *k^ being merely the allophone of a *k before
> > front vowels, and of PIE *ke being the allophone of PIE
> > *kW before *e (/kW/ remaining e.g. in the combination
> > *kWo).
>
> > I countered that it seemed more likely to me at least that
> > *kW would lose its W-element before rounded vowels (since
> > the W would not be clearly audibly distinct from the
> > following rounded vowel), while before unrounded vowels it
> > would remain because it was clearly distinct from the
> > vowel.
>
> According to Ringe, citing Weiss, the contrast between
> velars and labiovelars cannot be reconstructed before *w,
> *u, or *u:. He also notes that *KW > *K in the development
> from PIE to PGmc.
>