The Reflexes of *l̥

Abstract

This chapter discusses the developments affecting the lateral liquid when it served as a syllabic nucleus. There can be no doubt that the Proto-Ionic reflex of *l ̥was a-colored. The mainstream view is that ‐λα‐ is the regular outcome; the main aim of this chapter is to examine whether *l ̥> ‐αλ‐ can be excluded, still keeping in mind that there was an early vocalization to ‐αλ‐ in some environments (e.g. before laryngeal plus vowel, cf. section 1.2.1). The fact that there is much less evidence for *l ̥ than for *r̥ makes it difficult to draw clear-cut conclusions. As we will see, many potential examples are inconclusive for various reasons: the etymology is not compelling (section 10.1), the full grade vowel slot may have been levelled (section 10.2), or *l ̥ is not reflected directly for another reason (section 10.3). A number of strong pieces of evidence for *l ̥> ‐λα‐ are discussed in section 10.4, and the possibility of a special development *l ̥> ‐αλ‐ before nasals is examined in section 10.5. Finally, the scanty evidence from other dialects is treated in section 10.6.