Vowel Breaking - Proto-Indo-European

Proto-Indo-European

Some scholars believe that Proto-Indo-European (PIE) i, u has a kind of breaking before an original laryngeal in Greek, Armenian and Tocharian, whereas the other Indo-European languages have monophthongs. Typical examples are:

• PIE *gʷih₃wos → *gʷioHwos "alive" → Gk. ζωός, Toch. B śāw-, śāy- (but Skt. jīvá-, Lat. vīvus)
• PIE *protih₃kʷom → *protioHkʷom "front side" → Gk. πρόσωπον "face", Toch. B pratsāko "breast" (but Skt. prátīka-)
• PIE *duh₂ros → *duaHros "long" → Gk. δηρός, Arm. *twār → erkar (Skt. dūrá-, Lat. dūrus).

However, the hypothesis is not adopted by most handbooks.