phonemicized

Ergo, if I'm correct that vowels triggered this uvularization in the first place and yet if I'm also correct that unaccented vowels merged into a single schwa by Mid IE, I'm forced to admit that uvulars must have already been phonemicized in the language by the time of contact with Proto-Semitic, circa 5500 BCE.

Phonemicization of uvulars in Old IE? 2008

Ergo, if I'm correct that vowels triggered this uvularization in the first place and yet if I'm also correct that unaccented vowels merged into a single schwa by Mid IE, I'm forced to admit that uvulars must have already been phonemicized in the language by the time of contact with Proto-Semitic, circa 5500 BCE.

Archive 2008-11-01 2008

In my theory, uvulars became phonemicized and distinct from plain stops once Syncope i.e. the loss of most unstressed vowels kicked in.

The origin of the Indo-European uvular stop (traditionally the "plain, non-palatalized stop") 2008

Try another interpretation: During phonation shift, the modal *d of the onset phonemicized as *dʰ according to traditional theory remains modal while the second stop shifts to "breathy".

Winter's Law in Balto-Slavic, "Hybrid Theory" and phonation - Part 2 2008

I think what happened next was that once uvular consonants became phonemicized in Late IE, *h2 was uvularized and became aligned with the new sound *q traditional plain *k.

Update of my "Diachrony of Pre-IE" document 2008

The variations then become phonemicized and the bifurcated vowel begins to drift in two different directions of quality depending on the initial length.

Pre-IE and alternating thematic vowels 2007