Three-Way Contrast of Secondary Articulations in PIE

[proto-language]

Dear Rich and IEists:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Alderson" <alderson+mail at panix.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 8:36 PM

<snip>

> Later studies of the language have found that the proper analysis requires
> that there be two vowels, /a/ and /I-/ ("barred i").  The major proponent of
> this analysis is, as I recall, John Colarusso; see his grammar of Kabardian
> for more details.

[PR]
But is not /I-/ a high/mid central vowel? opposed to /a/, a low central vowel.

I would be inclined to regard /I-/ as an allophone of /a/ in specified
phonological environments.

As you rightly observe, vocalic contrasts are the common pattern in the world's
languages but the commonest contrast set is front-central-back.

[RA]
> 25 years ago, I used Kuipers, W. S. Allen on Abaza, and Dum'ezil on Ubykh as
> the props for a completely improper analysis of the IE vowel system, as I
> then saw it based on Lehmann's monovocalic analysis.  (It took me nearly 15
> years to see where Lehmann and I had got it all wrong:  *i and *u are
> primary, not *y and *w.)

[PR]
I still harbor the feeling that Lehmann was correct; and I have written to that
effect extensively on this list and at my website.

Without rehearsing my arguments, why do you not tell us a few IE words in which
you believe /i/ and /u/ are primary?

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/Athens/Forum/2803/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit ec
at ec hecc, vindgá meiði a netr allar nío, geiri vndaþr . . . a þeim
meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann af rótom renn." (Hávamál 138)