Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 96. kötet (1998-1999)

Tanulmányok - Dezső László: Typological Comparison of Root Structuring in Uralic and Early Indo-European. [Az uráli és korai indoeurópai tőstruktúrák tipológiai összevetése] 3

Typological Comparison of Root Structuring in Uralic and Early Indo-European 33 caused palatalization. If we find a final back V2

, it needs explanation. However, the change of front into back vowels in final position is typologically possible (cf. Rus. t'ofá). My explanations were conjectures of typological nature: they were based on the facts of general phonology, including the proto-languages of the area, and were motivated by a hypothesis on early Uralic, supported by the facts of Proto-Uralic. Their foundation can not be falsified, but their validity for Uralic is to be verified. This is a task for Uralic reconstruction. All etymons should be examined, and this is presented in the next section. I mentioned the weakness of typological conjecture from the point of view of reconstruction. However, it also has advantages in hypothesizing possible processes to be studied in a research programme. Palatalization was a fundamental process in Uralic but it must be clarified in detail in relation to each phomene which underwent palatalization, considering vowels provoking it. There could be stages before, during and after palatalization in which the different factors of palatalization are to be accounted for. Palatalization must be related to fricativization, (e.g. in the case of 5, 8' and possibly s, s) which was not mentioned before. Similarly, vowel harmony and its change makes part of the internal reconstruction of Uralic. In the preceding section I tried to contribute to the clarification of these processes. 4.3. The Presentation of Data with Further Remarks I have analyzed nearly 70% of the certain Uralic etymons which are or could be relevant to palatalization: (1) all etymons with initial k-, t-, n-, I-, s- without palatalization, analyzing those with i/ü, e, ä in Vi position; (2) all etymons with initial or internal n, Í, s, c, c, s, ô which certainly or probably result from palatalization. The following presentation of Uralic etymons can be compared to a complete analysis of PU and PFU in Bakró-Nagy's book (1993). 1. Etymons with initial k, t, n, I, s. The numeric distribution according to C\ and Vj positions: Ci/V, a ä 0 e и / в1'н1з total к 11 — 11 1 23 4 2 52 t 1 2 6 -6 1 2 18 n 1 --2 3 4 -10 I 2 — --2 1 1 6 s 1 4 5 1 5 2 1 19 total 16 6 22 4 39 12 6 105