From: Torsten
Message: 65875
Date: 2010-02-18
>Ablaut alternation typically occurs in paradigms, which is exactly where we would expect there to be analogical pressure.
> > > > How exactly does that work in geographical terms? Wouldn't
> > > > pre-IE have been spoken thousands of kilometers away from the
> > > > "Nordwestblock" area?
> >
> > I'll have to modify the reference to pre-IE. Actually I think
> > that the whole
> > -í:-/´-i-/-i-´ (-> -éi-/´-i-/-i-´) -> -éi-/´-oi-/-i-´,
> > -ú:-/´-u-/-u-´ (-> -óu-/´-u-/-u-´) -> -éu-/´-ou-/-u-´
> > thing took place not between PPIE and PIE, but in the individual
> > IE branches, in spite of the traditional notation (eg. Pokorny)
> > of these roots as having -eu- and -ei-. Latin has no -eu-, for
> > instance.
>
> Interesting.
>
>
> > the reason why this development could take place in several
> > branches independently, is that it is a generalization from
> > something already existing in PIE, namely the ablaut PIE
> > -é-/´-o-/--´ from PPIE -á:-/´-a-/--´.
>
> Optimally we'd like to explain some reflexes without resorting to
> analogy, in such a case.
> If the table here isn't complete wackAs for 'classical PIE' i: and u:, I'll have to claim they are 'survivals' from low sociolects (cf. PIE mu:s with Dutch dial. muus vs. huis).
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_sound_laws
> (BTW I'm sure there are some members here who could work on that,
> or at leack check for bugs?)
> it seems the standard ablaut grades remain apart (and have
> difthongal values) quite widely. Hittite /u/ for all *(V)u is
> interesting however.
> (Could *Vi ablaut have come into form before *Vu ablaut did?)Obviously the second, analogical change of former of these two is the least difficult of the two:
>http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/62677
> > > and wasn't this about words particular to Germanic, not
> > > inherited from PIE?
> >
> > They are found in Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic and Baltic
> > Finnic, occasionally in Latin (the 'mots populaires') and Greek.
> >
>
> OK. (Better check before jumping feet-first into the discussion.)