Re: Laryngeals: arguments from typology?

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 4:39 PM, gprosti <gprosti@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>> One of the most beatiful examples, for its simplicity, is RV á:sat-
>> 'unreal', the negated pres.part. od 'to be' < *n.-h1sn.t-
>>
>> Piotr
>>
> Couldn't this be due to analogy? A CVC root plus the negative prefix would have the form aCCat-, with two moras in the initial syllable. A VC root would normally only have one mora in this syllable, but maybe the initial vowel was lengthened (giving a:sat-, etc.) in order to maintain the two-mora pattern.
>

If the alpha privativum had an intermediary state as [*an-], where did
that nasal go, and the rhythm, in words like a-mRtá-, a-zatru? And in
your case, why the sequence -ans- would not merge with all the other
cases of -aNs-, like

aMsa- < *H?oms
taMs < *tens
haMsa < *g'h(H2)ans

&c &c; instead we have:

ásta < *.ns-to-
asmé < *.nsmei
gaccha- < *gW.m-sk'e-

There are several other cases of lengthening due to laryngeal, like
dvi:pá- from *dwi-H2p-ó-, but dvidhA- from *dwi-dheH1-, so no rhythm
here to be preserved.

Edgard