first syllabe stress in IE languages (was Re: A dialogue in Old Urianian.)
| From: | Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, February 23, 2007, 20:47 |
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Hallo!
On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:58:50 +0000, Jeff Rollin wrote:
> There are various curious phenomena associated w/ the comparative study of
> Uralic and Indo-European. For example, whereas you rightly point out,
> Germanic languages are stressed on the first syllable, it is entirely
> possible that:
>
> (a) They "inherited" it from Uralic and were simply "best" at preserving it;
> or
> (b) Their long contact with Uralic languages influenced its preservation; or
> (c) They inherited it from PIE.
The last "possibility" of yours is impossible. PIE *definitely* didn't have
first syllable stress. It had a mobile accent. It is true that the first
syllable stress is also found in Old Latin and Goidelic, but these languages
did not inherit it from PIE.
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