Vowellessness

Quick update: I asked on the indo-european mailing list about Winfred
Lehmann's contention that PIE had no vowels per se, but rather a
suprasegmental phonemic quality called "syllabicity" -- hoping for detail=
s as
to how it worked.

I was quickly informed by the moderator that:

"Lehmann's analysis is a monument to the structuralism of the 1940s. In a=
ny
reasonable phonological theory, this analysis could not be made."

=46rom this we learn that the structuralism of the 1940s was not a reason=
able
phonological theory.

I also found out that "...Lehmann's "syllabicity" is simply the vowel /a/=
,
with allophonic variation becoming phonemicized over time."

So it's not kosher, apparently, to call a language vowelless just because=
 it
only has one vowel. :)

Ed
 =


---------------------------------------------------------
Edward Heil .......................... edwardheil@usa.net
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