The repetition of phonemic characteristics in radical morphemes in sets of synonyms from indo-european languages*

Abstract

Through its  continuations our  treatise has  now  acquired a  size  unu­ sual  for  the  present periodical and  so  the  editors wish  it  to  be  brought to a conclusion. In  what  follows,  therefore, we shall  no longer  be able  to guide our  reader on  the  research path  step  by step - as  we have  done  so  far  in the  wish  to facilitate a strict control of  our  procedure. In  the  conclusion we have  to  restrict  ourselves to  a  presentation of  the  main  features of  the  so far  achieved  picture of  our  insights concerning the  ultimate problems posed by  the  material collected and  the  statistically discovered laws.  The  analyses carried out for  this  purpose, either  within  the narrower scope  of our  material or within a broader framework, will be presented mainly  in their  final  results. Since  the  time  available has  not  allowed  us to start some  additional analyses or  to  carry  through some  analyses already begun,  the  picture of our  insights will be less  clear  also  in  places  where  it  might  have  been  made  clearer. This is  what  we should  like  to  call  to  the  reader's   attention; on  the  other hand it  is  true that   a  final,   possibly   exhaustive elucidation  of  bulky   statistical material  can   hardly    be   realized   in   a   periodical  publication,  which   has already kindly   allowed   us  a  sizable  space  for  the  presentation of  the  ma­ terial, the  counting of it,  tabulary illustrations and  calculations.