Re: IE thematic wovels

On Mon, 03 Dec 2001 00:52:53, "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...>
wrote:

>But still, how might we conclusively tell whether the Tocharian
>form is derived from *-bhos (an adjectival suffix) or from *-bhyos
>(a case suffix). Again, you fail to address this. The only
>difference concerns a single semivowel and I can't see how you
>can logically rule this possibility out.

Tocharian A -(y)a:-p, B -e-pi [Gen.sg.] can be neither from Nom.
*-bhos nor from Dat.pl. *-bhyos, because those would have given Toch
*-pe. The form is in fact derived from a thematic adjectival
accusative *-bhom > *-p(ä), to which Toch. B has added the genitive
ending -i (from the i-stems: *-eis).

>However, we don't see a zero-graded root, as part of a larger
>verbal or nominal paradigm, occuring by itself in a form in
>reconstructed IE, as I say.

You're simply wrong.

>>Neither is the root syllabic in the forms you said were acceptable to
>>you (*e-bhr-óm, *bhe-bhr-óm, *bhi-bhr-óm).
>
>Yes, they are syllabic, if viewed properly as: *ebhr-, *bhebhr-
>and *bhibhr-. I guess this is where the distinction between "root"
>(*bhebhr-), a potentially divisable core component, and "stem"
>(*-bhr-), an indivisable core component, needs to be understood.
>The _stem_ is nonsyllabic but it doesn't occur paradigmatically
>by itself in IE.

Unsurprisingly (as in the cases of fortis-lenis, oblique-rectus),
you've gotten the terms "root" and "stem" mixed up. In any case,
*bhr-ó-/*bhr-é- is a (syllabic) verbal stem, just as much as
*h1é-bhr-, or *bhé-bhr-. A synonym of "stem" is "theme", which is why
we call it the "thematic" vowel.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...