1. There seems to be little or no evidence of the
entire
lateral series, let alone *dl. Why does one
insist on
laterals in Nostratic, other than to
maintain a
dysfunctional status quo?
Then where did all the
Semitic (and Chadic too I think) laterals come
from?
2. Of _course_ there is a
"schwa stage" in earlier IE!
(That is, a stage where
schwa existed as a full vowel as
one finds in NWC
languages.) However to claim that a single
schwa can
explain away all the various ablauts existant in
IE
is entirely ridiculous. I'm afraid we need two
vowels
*& and *a, other than syllabic semivowels
*i and *u, starting
at the IndoTyrrhenian stage, to
explain the very long
development of these
grammatical curiosities. And again,
please note
Bomhard's specific mention of NWC contacts with
early IE that can help explain the peculiar
centralized
vowel system. (Have a lookie at my
Central Asia map)
I have to agree with
the two-vowel system of early PIE (actually four if you count /i/ and
/u/). I think the mention of NWC is to give a parallel example at least,
if not to suggest outside influence. Bomhard did list a number of
(possible) IE-NWC cognates.
By the way, by
"Indo-Tyrrhenian" do you mean an earlier state of Indo-European including
Etruscan or Sumerian or any others, or a wider group of families along the lines
of Eurasiatic?
~DaW~