Thread:User talk:CodeCat/*źambas, *zǫbъ/reply (4)

The Latvian letter "o" is used to represent the diphthong [úo] (actually more like [úə]), which Baltic specialists tend to retranscribe as  so as to stress the fact that it is a diphthong. It's normal practice, like also adding intonation markers to Latvian (and Lithuanian) that are not part of standard spelling, as well as (for Latvian) also using some device to mark the difference between /e/ and /æ/ (both spelled  in Standard Latvian), e.g. <ę> for [æ].

If your source mentions *źombos rather than *źombas, then how do you know *źombas is really better? If the 'evidence and consensus' etc. point to it, then there should be something that can be cited to support that, right?

Look, I'm not trying to be a spoilsport or something. I am just not a Balto-Slavicist, and I feel confused and less likely to trust what I see (since I'm not familiar with the Balto-Slavic literature -- which is certainly the case of most Wiktionary users) if I see unsourced reconstructions or divergences/variations. Wouldn't it be a good service to the average user to add this information to the PBS, PS (and PIE for that matter) pages? I mean, Wiktionary is also about giving the best possible information, right?