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> En réponse à Adam Walker <dreamertwo@hidden.email>:
>
> >
> > Now I'm pondering what to do with QU and consonant clusters. I'm
> > leaning
> > toward the Romanian solution for QU, but is that realistic with Western
> >
> > treatment of palatalization? I want to do something to make C-o look a
> > bit
> > less Iberian, but I'm not sure this is the right solution. Could QU go
> > in
> > some other direction? Toward WH? Something else?
> >
>
> I don't remember how Romanian treats QU, but why not do what P-Celtic
languages
> did with the Proto-celtic KW and make it become P?
That's what Greek did with the proto-IE labiovelar series before front
vowels:
pIE *sekw-o Latin se_qu_or Greek he_p_omai
The passage of the labiovelar series from pIE to Attic Greek is somehow
puzzling. pIE had three labiovelars: kw, gw and ghw:
Before back vowels [a] and [o], the labiovelar series became labial:
kwo, gwo, gwho --> po, bo, pho
kwa, gwa, gwha --> pa, ba, pha
e.g.: sekw-o (to follow) > sepo-mai > hepomai
gwo-us > bou^s (Lat. bos seems to be a rural intrusion in the classical
language, which would also explain the reason of its morphological
irregularities; the English word 'cow' is also connected to this root)
kwol-o (to spin) > polos (pivot)
Before front vowels [i] and [i], the labiovelar series became dental (the
Eolic dialects, however, show labial reflexes in this position as well):
kwe, gwe, gweo --> te, de, the
kwi, gwi, gwhi --> ti, di, thi
e.g.: kwe (and) > te (Lat. enclitic conj. -que)
kwis (who) > tis (Lat. quis)
penkwe (five) > pente
gwhen-yo (to kill) > thenjo: > theino:
gwel (end) > telos
Luca