"centum"/"satem" "exceptions" [was Re: Northwest IE attributes]

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Joat and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: <JoatSimeon at aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 3:29 AM

<PRp>
>> I believe the process through which this happened is roughly that Nostratic,
>> which had phonemic /e,a,o/ came into areal contact which Caucasian languages
>> that favored extreme vowel reduction, and transference of vocalic
>> differences to glides: CE -> Cya; CO -> Cwa, >>

<JS>
> -- I thought this was the _Indo-European_ list?  Since most people here
> probably classify "Nostratic" with the tooth fairy, must we waste our time?

<RA>
> [ Moderator's comment:
>   Would your reaction be as strong if Mr. Ryan had said "pre-IE" instead of
>   "Nostratic"?
>   --rma ]

<PR>
As I have explained, I do really understand the sensitivity of some
list-members to this topic of Nostratic.

But, let us approach this from another avenue.

1) What I believe we find in the earliest IE is one vowel, /*e/, which has a
conditioned variant , /*o/.

2) I believe with Benveniste that /*u/ and /*i/ are to be accounted as
avocalic instances of /*w/ and /*y/.

3) I also believe that all /*a/ and any long vowels are due to the presence
of "laryngeals", and that /*a(:)/ cannot exist in a syllable that did not
contain a "laryngeal" at some earlier stage.

I presume you disagree with one or more of these premises. Let us discuss it
and see if we can elucidate matters in any meaningful way.

I would be grateful to any list-member for suggestions of a methdology that
would allow us to convince each other of a pro or con position on any of
these premises --- if one can be devised.

Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN | PROTO-LANGUAGE at email.msn.com (501) 227-9947 * 9115 W. 34th
St. Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES: PROTO-LANGUAGE:
http://www.geocities.com/proto-language/ and PROTO-RELIGION:
http://www.geocities.com/proto-language/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit ek,
at ek hekk, vindga meipi, nftr allar nmu, geiri undapr . . . a ~eim meipi er
mangi veit hvers hann af rstum renn." (Havamal 138)