PIE *tk^ (was Re: Nostratic (was Re: Schwebeablaut (was Re:

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 21:28:34  0100 =?iso-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg?= Rhiemeier
<joerg_rhiemeier@...> wrote.

> Any way, the assumption that *tk^, *dg^ and *dhg^h are single phonemes
> is to be rejected.
It's somewhat more than an assumption (although admittedly also somewhere
short of a conclusion, yet).

The only onset clusters in PIE that I know of that are of two stops are of
the TK^ family, except for two cases of TKW, which I suspect may have
originated as TK^u. That every single other stop-stop onset is disallowed
must at the very least suggest that the K^ series were originally
fricatives. There are, however, two problems:

1) Why do we never see K^T, or PK^ as onsets?

2) Why does the (now fricative) K^ series pattern entirely with stops in
every other circumstance?




Paul