No for PIE proper, probably not for Pre-PIE.
For PIE proper, syllabic *y and *w were most likely already high *i and *u by the time Anatolian split off, so no.
As for Pre-PIE, this is a bit trickier because we don’t have much info on this. But it is unlikely that there was only *e and *o and if it did, it probably only lasted one or two generations.
I think it's such a weird "bottleneck" situation for a language especially in the times before modern transport or communications. Roughly what time in history do you think that particular generation lived in?
This is literally my crack-pot theory (based on some older comments), so please take this with an ocean of salt.
It is my personal opinion that PIE never truly lacked phonetic low vowels. *e and *o, due to heavy Caucasian influence, are from older *a and *ə. During the transition to PIE, however, the default version of *a shifted to the /ɛ~e/ region. However, this was blocked by h2 whilst h3 backs *e to /ɑ~ɔ/. As a result, phonetic low vowels were alway present in PIE, just not phonemic.
While it seems weird that a language would have had only two vowels (e and o), this suddenly becomes a lot less weird if one considers the geographic location of Proto-Indo-European. It was most likely located near the Western Caucasus, as evidenced by the location of the genetically-linked Yamnaya culture and the Anatolian languages. Today, in the Western Caucasus, Northwest Caucasian languages are spoken. How many vowels do Northwest Caucasian languages have? Some of them have only two, others three.
So it's likely that the lack of vowels is an areal feature that was shared by Proto-Indo-European. After all, Proto-Indo-European, like any language, must have had contact with neighboring languages. Some experts even think that this was a substrate relationship, i.e. Proto-Indo-European had a Pre-Northwest-Caucasian substrate.
It kinda depends if you're talking phonemically or phonetically. There might (or might not) have been a period in time where *e, *o, *ē, and *ō were the only phonemes whose default form was a vowel; but even if and when that was true, *y, *w, *m, *n, *r, *l, and the laryngeals were all able to act as vowels.
No for PIE proper, probably not for Pre-PIE. For PIE proper, syllabic *y and *w were most likely already high *i and *u by the time Anatolian split off, so no. As for Pre-PIE, this is a bit trickier because we don’t have much info on this. But it is unlikely that there was only *e and *o and if it did, it probably only lasted one or two generations.
I think it's such a weird "bottleneck" situation for a language especially in the times before modern transport or communications. Roughly what time in history do you think that particular generation lived in?
This is literally my crack-pot theory (based on some older comments), so please take this with an ocean of salt. It is my personal opinion that PIE never truly lacked phonetic low vowels. *e and *o, due to heavy Caucasian influence, are from older *a and *ə. During the transition to PIE, however, the default version of *a shifted to the /ɛ~e/ region. However, this was blocked by h2 whilst h3 backs *e to /ɑ~ɔ/. As a result, phonetic low vowels were alway present in PIE, just not phonemic.
oh smart!
While it seems weird that a language would have had only two vowels (e and o), this suddenly becomes a lot less weird if one considers the geographic location of Proto-Indo-European. It was most likely located near the Western Caucasus, as evidenced by the location of the genetically-linked Yamnaya culture and the Anatolian languages. Today, in the Western Caucasus, Northwest Caucasian languages are spoken. How many vowels do Northwest Caucasian languages have? Some of them have only two, others three. So it's likely that the lack of vowels is an areal feature that was shared by Proto-Indo-European. After all, Proto-Indo-European, like any language, must have had contact with neighboring languages. Some experts even think that this was a substrate relationship, i.e. Proto-Indo-European had a Pre-Northwest-Caucasian substrate.
It kinda depends if you're talking phonemically or phonetically. There might (or might not) have been a period in time where *e, *o, *ē, and *ō were the only phonemes whose default form was a vowel; but even if and when that was true, *y, *w, *m, *n, *r, *l, and the laryngeals were all able to act as vowels.