Re: Thalassan Possessive Suffixes

Hi!

Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> writes:
>...
> Anyway, I like the suffixes. I do wonder, tho, whether the sound-changes in the
> pl forms are regular - the loss of the second-to-last vowel seems a tad odd.
Hmm, not necessarily, I think.  It might be perfectly feasible given
the right stress patterns (or some other good explanation).  Note that
Latin has interesting syncope, too due to accent shifts, too:

  gaudere < *ga-widere
  gavisus < *ga-wisus

Prote-Norse also drops the penultimate when the ultimate cannot be
dropped for some reason.  E.g. singular of 'cauldron' is 'ketill',
but plural is 'katlar'.  This is regular:

    *katilaR  > *katilR > *ketilR > ketill
    *katilo:R > *katlaR           > katlar

Syncope drops ultimate vowel if short and before a given set of
consonants, of which R happens to be one, and otherwise shortens (and
recolours) the last vowel and drops penultimate.  (Also note the
beautiful i-umlaut that only occurs in one of the forms.)

So I'd say with the right explanation, the Thalassan drop of vowel is
perfectly feasible.

(Or did you find the vowel drop odd for some completely different
reason that I fail to see?)

**Henrik
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