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From: alderson@netcom.com (Richard M. Alderson III)
Subject: Re: IndoEuropean 'r' and laryngeals
In-Reply-To: William Walderman's message of Thu, 23 Mar 95 22:15:49 -0500
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Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 02:30:17 GMT
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In article <5e55HqN.walderman@delphi.com> William Walderman
<walderman@delphi.com> writes:

>We have no idea how the laryngeals were pronounced (or even if they existed.)
>The theory is that like liquids, they could function as both vowels and
>consonants.  The schwa is used as a symbol by some for these reconstructed
>sounds, but there is no way to know how the laryngeals were actually arti-
>culated.

Not exactly.  The shwa symbol in and of itself is vocalic; what is confusing
for some people is that one set of symbols for laryngeals is subscripted shwas
with the subscript arch (like an inverted breve underneath the vowel).

Probably better is the use of subscripted <x>s.
-- 
Rich Alderson		[Tolkien quote temporarily removed in favour of
alderson@netcom.com	 proselytizing comment below --rma]

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