Lehmann's Syllabicity

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Peter and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "petegray" <petegray at btinternet.com>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 11:33 AM

[PCRp]

>> ... the unusual fact that most IE
>> roots display a front-back vowel (also, potentially no vowel) contrast,
>> which indicates morphosemantic differences only --- not lexicosemantic
>> ones.

[PG]

> The word "vowel" needs defining here!   Would you count a sequence "eu" as
> the same as, or different from, the vowel "e"?  If (as I believe we must) we
> count it as different, then your problem disappears.   Ignoring the e/o/zero
> ablaut, PIE shows:
>     e
>     eu
>     ei
>     er
>     el
>     em
>     en
>     eH 1 -2 -3 - etc
> All of these carry lexicosemantic differences.

[PCR]

Interesting. But does not directly address my question.

Supposing that a language ancestral to PIE could distinguish between *mad,
*med, and *mod _lexically_, how might these lexical differentiation have been
maintained in earliest PIE when they would all eventually end up as *me/od-. My
feeling is that glides are the typologically correct hypothesis. After glides
were lost, root-extensions filled in for the lack of differentiating features.

I was just wondering if anyone had another (possibly better) idea?

[PG]

> Even if we don't like the sequences er, el, em, en as diphthongs, we must
> still recognise the zero grades as vocalic elements - vowels - with
> lexicosemantic significance.

[PCR]

I'll bite. Why should *er be regarded as a diphthong rather than a sequence of
vowel + consonant?

Incidentally, I am not so sure that *R should be regarded as a vowel. Why is it
not just simply a sonorous consonant that can, in certain circumstances, appear
in typically vocalic positions?

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:
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at ec hecc, vindgá meiði a netr allar nío, geiri vndaþr . . . a þeim
meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann af rótom renn." (Hávamál 138)