"syllabicity"

[Edward Heil]

Hi.  I just read Winifred Lehmann's _Theoretical Bases of Proto-Indo-European
Linguistics_ (I believe that's the name; don't have my copy next to me).

He refers to the theory set forth in his earlier _Proto-Indo-European
Phonology_ that there were no phonemic vowels in early PIE, that on the
contrary there was a non-segmental phonemic quality which he calls
"syllabicity" which would result in the phonetic manifestation of vowels in
certain positions.

Unfortunately, he doesn't give enough details for me to understand exactly how
this process would have worked, and I don't have access to his earlier book.
I wonder if anyone familiar with this idea could give me a quick rundown on
the details?

Ed

[ Moderator's comment:
  Lehmann's analysis is a monument to the structuralism of the 1940s.  In any
  reasonable phonological theory, this analysis could not be made.  (If looked
  at from the viewpoint of Stampe's natural phonology, Lehmann's "syllabicity"
  is simply the vowel /a/, with allophonic variation becoming phonemicized over
  time.)  For another example of the same kind of analysis, one which has been
  examined in the literature, see Aert Kuipers' monograph on Kabardian from the
  1960s.  I forget the exact title, but it was published in the _Janua Lingua-
  rum, Series Minor_ by Mouton; it should be available in a university library.
  --rma ]