--- In nostratic@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:

>

> Okay, I thiiiiink I get it... maybe? Are you saying that IE
> started out with a regular penultimate accent, then some nouns
> were given a different accent pattern, then the vowels disappeared,
> and then some *e's changed to *o (then, in the genitive case, the
> *o changed back again!) for some hitherto unknown reason, then
> the accent was regularized to the initial on _some_ nouns but you
> don't know why only "some" and not "all"?
>
> Is that what you're saying? Sounds like you've still got some
> problems to work out. This only brings up even more questions
> than it serves to answer so far. These changes have to be put
> in a very precise order, otherwise it all simply unravels.
>
> - love gLeN

HI

Yes, here you are very near to my idea.

Actually: I do not think a late explanation for the thematic wovel is
satisfactory.

Therefore I try to find some mechanism that allowed the thematic
wovel to rize during the zero-grade process in midIE.

Therefore I postulate that some nouns right before the zero-grade
process had an accent pattern with constant stress on the second
syllable. (These nouns may or may not have had penultimate stress in
an even earlier time)

When unaccented wovels got lost, this would authomaticly lead to
preservation of the second wovel in all forms (because this was
stressed), and to zero-grade in the initial syllable in all forms.
This second wovel became the thematic wovel.

But for these nouns, the process would also lead to some homonymity.
In order to repair this, a pronominal element was added to the
genitive, and other analogies were introdused from the athematic
nouns (nom.pl, datpl.). From the pronominal declention the ending of
the abl.pl was introdused.

In an later stage, the accent was shifted to the first syllable in
many thematic nouns, I think. In either case, in a late stage there
existed thematic nouns both with accent on the first syllable, and on
the thematic vowel.


Yes, I admit I have something to work out regarding the details, but
the important part by now is the basic idea.

Knut

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