Re: a-umlaut (was Re: Epicene words)

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:

>> > > _halera_ (< *hal-ir-a) `healer'
> >
> > Is this a-umlaut?  I mean the *-ir-a > -era part of that?
>
> It is.
I spotted that too, and suspected as much......


> >  Does it occur in natlangs?
>
> I think it occurs in some North Germanic languages, though I am
> not sure about that.
>
Something similar happens sporadically in Oceanic/Polynesian languages,
where any of the following are possible:

*CaCi > CaCe, or CeCi; similarly for *CiCa
*CaCu > CaCo, or CoCu; likewise for *CuCa
More often these vowel sequences survive unchanged.

But it's simply an unexpected assimilation, and is never called "umlaut"