IE conlangs

At 04:01 PM 4/7/99 CDT, you wrote: "I got an M.A. in Latin at UNC, where
Craig Melchert teaches.  While there, I took a class with Michael Weiss, a
young Greek/Indo-Europeanist who I am convinced will be famous in the field
within a couple decades.  I am also convinced that Weiss would cheerfully
have taught there for free as long as they let him study Hittite with
Craig. :)"

I'm reading Melchert's book, and he is the most cantankerous writer I have
ever laid eyes on. Everything he doesn't approve of, he "vehemently
rejects," "forcefully opposes," "absolutely must be deleted," and the like.
It's a blast to read - it really spices up the work to have him so worked
up about phonological issues in Hieroglyphic Luwian, for example, and he
seems to be otherwise pretty fair (I agree with most of his points, and he
is kind and very supportive of correct points by the same authors he
lambasts elsewhere).

I agree that Lehmann can be hard to read, but check the intro for what the
Hs mean. I personally applaud his attempt to figure out what the Hs are, as
I cannot keep mental track of which H is which when they are all sub-1,2,3.
My mind just isn't built to remember that, and I can't figure out how they
were really pronounced ...

BB
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