*G^EN-

[Rich Alderson]

On 5 June 2001, Patrick Ryan wrote:

> Thus, *g^enH1- would constitute an exception to the general proposition that
> IE roots have the form CVC-. Every good "rule" needs an exception or two.

The general proposition that IE roots are CeC is directly related to the notion
that IE roots involve extensions, or determinatives.  The root is abstracted
from the stem, that portion of the word which is left after all inflectional
and derivational morphemes are abstracted away; since the stem can be very
messy, its analysis into a root plus a (poosibly zero) suffix plus one or more
extensions simplifies things.

Lehmann has a discussion of this in his 1952 monograph on phonology, derived
from Benveniste's long exposition in _Origines de la formation des noms en
indoeurop'een_.

So the exception is only apparent.

								Rich Alderson