The
Proto-Indo-European language (
PIE) is the
hypothetical common ancestor of the
Indo-European languages, spoken by the
Proto-Indo-Europeans. Although the existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for a long time, there has been debate about many specific details. Using the method of
Internal reconstruction an earlier stage, called Pre-Indo-European, has been proposed.
Discovery and reconstruction
When and where was PIE spoken?
There are several competing hypotheses about when and where PIE was spoken. The only thing known for certain is that the language must have been differentiated into unconnected daughter dialects by the late
3rd millennium BC. Mainstream estimates of the time between PIE and the earliest attested texts (ca.
nineteenth century BC; see
Kültepe texts) range around 1,500 to 2,500 years, with extreme proposals diverging up to another 100% on either side:
History
The classical phase of Indo-European
comparative linguistics leads from
Franz Bopp's
Comparative Grammar (1833) to
August Schleicher's
1861 Compendium and up to
Karl Brugmann's
Grundriss published from the
1880s. Brugmann's
junggrammatische re-evaluation of the field and
Ferdinand de Saussure's development of the
laryngeal theory may be considered the beginning of "contemporary" Indo-European studies.
PIE as described in the early 1900s is still generally accepted today; subsequent work is largely refinement and systematization, as well as the incorporation of new information, notably the
Anatolian and
Tocharian branches unknown in the 19th century.
Notably, the
laryngeal theory, in its early forms discussed since the 1880s, became mainstream after Jerzy Kuryłowicz's 1927 discovery of the survival of at least some of these hypothetical phonemes in Anatolian.
Julius Pokorny's
Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) gave an overview of the lexical knowledge accumulated until the early 20th century, but neglected contemporary trends of morphology and phonology, and largely ignored Anatolian and Tocharian.
The generation of Indo-Europeanists active in the last third of the 20th century (such as
Calvert Watkins,
Jochem Schindler and
Helmut Rix) developed a better understanding of morphology and, in the wake of Kuryłowicz's
1956 Apophonie, understanding of the
ablaut. From the 1960s, knowledge of Anatolian became certain enough to establish its relationship to PIE; see also
Indo-Hittite.
Method
There is no direct evidence of PIE, because it was never
written. All PIE sounds and words are reconstructed from later Indo-European languages using the
comparative method and the method of
internal reconstruction. The
asterisk is used to mark reconstructed PIE words, such as *
wódr̥ '
water', *
ḱwṓn '
dog' (English
hound), or *
tréyes 'three (masculine)'. Many of the words in the modern Indo-European languages seem to have derived from such "protowords" via regular
sound changes (e.g.,
Grimm's law).
As the Proto-Indo-European language broke up, its sound system diverged as well, according to various
sound laws in the daughter languages. Notable among these are
Grimm's law and
Verner's law in
Proto-Germanic, loss of prevocalic
*p- in
Proto-Celtic, reduction to
h of prevocalic
*s- in
Proto-Greek,
Brugmann's law and
Bartholomae's law in Proto-Indo-Iranian, and
Grassmann's law independently in both Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian.
Relationship to other language families
Many higher-level relationships between PIE and other language families have been proposed. But these speculative connections are highly controversial. Perhaps the most widely accepted proposal is of an Indo-Uralic family, encompassing PIE and
Uralic. The evidence usually cited in favor of this is the proximity of the proposed
Urheimaten of the two families, the
typological similarity between the two languages, and a number of apparent shared morphemes.
Frederik Kortlandt, while advocating a connection, concedes that "the gap between Uralic and Indo-European is huge", while
Lyle Campbell, an authority of Uralic, denies any relationship exists.
Other proposals, further back in time (and correspondingly less accepted), model PIE as a branch of Indo-Uralic with a
Caucasian substratum; link PIE and Uralic with
Altaic and certain other families in Asia, such as
Korean,
Japanese,
Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Eskimo-Aleut (representative proposals are
Nostratic and
Joseph Greenberg's
Eurasiatic); or link some or all of these to
Afro-Asiatic,
Dravidian, etc., and ultimately to a single
Proto-World family (nowadays mostly associated with
Merritt Ruhlen). Various proposals, with varying levels of skepticism, also exist that join some subset of the putative Eurasiatic language families and/or some of the
Caucasian language families, such as
Uralo-Siberian,
Ural-Altaic (once widely accepted but now largely discredited),
Proto-Pontic, and so on.
Phonology
- Short vowels a, e, i, o, u
- Long vowels ā, ē, ō; sometimes a colon (:) is employed to indicate vowel length instead of the macron sign (a:, e:, o:).
- Diphthongs ai, au, āi, āu, ei, eu, ēi, ēu, oi, ou, ōi, ōu
- vocalic allophones of consonantal phonemes: u, i, r̥, l̥, m̥, n̥.
Other long vowels may have appeared already in the proto-language by
compensatory lengthening:
ī, ū, r̥̄, l̥̄, m̥̄, n̥̄.
Morphology
Root
PIE was an
inflected language, in which the grammatical relationships between words were signaled through inflectional morphemes (usually endings). The
roots of PIE are basic
morphemes carrying a
lexical meaning. By addition of
suffixes, they form
stems, and by addition of
desinences (usually endings), these form grammatically inflected
words (
nouns or
verbs). PIE roots are understood to be predominantly monosyllabic with a basic shape CvC(C). This basic root shape is often altered by
ablaut. Roots which appear to be vowel initial are believed by many scholars to have originally begun with a set of consonants, later lost in all but the
Anatolian branch, called
laryngeals (usually indicated
H, and often specified with a subscript number
h1, h2, h3). Thus a verb form such as the one reflected in Latin
agunt, Greek
ἄγουσι (
ágousi), Sanskrit
ajanti would be reconstructed as
h2eǵ-onti, with the element
h2eǵ constituting the root
per se.
Ablaut
One of the unique aspects of PIE was its
ablaut sequence that contrasted the vowel phonemes o/e/Ø [no vowel] within the same root. Ablaut is a form of vowel variation which changed between these three forms perhaps depending on the adjacent sounds and placement of stress in the word. These changes are echoed in modern Indo-European languages where they have come to reflect grammatical categories. These ablaut grades are usually referred to as
e-grade, o-grade, zero-grade and lengthened grade. Modern English
sing, sang, sung is an example of such an ablaut set and reflects a pre-Proto-Germanic sequence
sengw-, songw-, sngw-. Some scholars believe that the inflectional affixes of Indo European reflect ablaut variants, usually zero-grade, of older PIE roots. Often the zero-grade apears where the word's accent has shifted off of the root to one of the affixes. Thus the alternation found in Latin
est, sunt reflects PIE
h1és-ti, h1s-ónti
Noun
Proto-Indo-European nouns were declined for eight cases (
nominative,
accusative,
genitive,
dative,
instrumental,
ablative,
locative,
vocative). There were three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
There are two major types of declension,
thematic and athematic. Thematic nominal stems are formed with a suffix
-o- (in vocative
-e) and the stem does not undergo
ablaut. The athematic stems are more archaic, and they are classified further by their ablaut behaviour (
acro-dynamic,
protero-dynamic,
hystero-dynamic and
holo-dynamic, after the positioning of the early PIE accent (
dynamis) in the paradigm).
Pronoun
PIE pronouns are difficult to reconstruct due to their variety in later languages. This is especially the case for
demonstrative pronouns.
PIE had personal
pronouns in the
first and second person, but not the third person, where demonstratives were used instead. The personal pronouns had their own unique forms and endings, and some had two distinct stems; this is most obvious in the first person singular, where the two stems are still preserved in English
I and
me. According to Beekes (1995), there were also two varieties for the accusative, genitive and dative cases, a stressed and an
enclitic form.
| Personal pronouns (Beekes 1995)
|
|---|
| First person |
Second person
|
|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | h₁eǵ(oH/Hom) | wei | tuH | yuH |
| Accusative | h₁mé, h₁me | nsmé, nōs | twé | usmé, wōs |
| Genitive | h₁méne, h₁moi | ns(er)o-, nos | tewe, toi | yus(er)o-, wos |
| Dative | h₁méǵʰio, h₁moi | nsmei, ns | tébʰio, toi | usmei |
| Instrumental | h₁moí | ? | toí | ? |
| Ablative | h₁med | nsmed | tued | usmed |
| Locative | h₁moí | nsmi | toí | usmi |
As for demonstratives, Beekes (1995) tentatively reconstructs a system with only two pronouns:
so/seh₂/tod "this, that" and
h₁e/ (h₁)ih₂/(h₁)id "the (just named)" (
anaphoric). He also postulates three adverbial particles
ḱi "here",
h₂en "there" and
h₂eu "away, again", from which demonstratives were constructed in various later languages.
Verb
The Indo-European verb system is complex and, as the noun, exhibits a system of
ablaut.
Verbs have at least four
moods (indicative, imperative,
subjunctive and
optative, as well as possibly the
injunctive, reconstructible from Vedic Sanskrit), two
voices (
active and
mediopassive), as well as three
persons (first, second and third) and three
numbers (
singular,
dual and
plural). Verbs are conjugated in at least three "tenses" (
present,
aorist, and
perfect), which actually have primarily
aspectual value. Indicative forms of the
imperfect and (less likely) the
pluperfect may have existed. Verbs were also marked by a highly developed system of
participles, one for each combination of tense and mood, and an assorted array of
verbal nouns and adjectival formations.
| | Buck 1933 |
Beekes 1995
|
|---|
| | Athematic | Thematic | Athematic | Thematic |
| Singular | 1st | -mi | -ō | -mi | -oH |
| 2nd | -si | -esi | -si | -eh₁i |
| 3rd | -ti | -eti | -ti | -e |
| Plural | 1st | -mos/mes | -omos/omes | -mes | -omom |
| 2nd | -te | -ete | -th₁e | -eth₁e |
| 3rd | -nti | -onti | -nti | -o |
Numbers
The Proto-Indo-European numerals are generally reconstructed as follows:
| Sihler 1995, 402–24 | Beekes 1995, 212–16 |
| one | *Hoi-no-/*Hoi-wo-/*Hoi-k(ʷ)o-; *sem- | *Hoi(H)nos |
| two | *d(u)wo- | *duoh₁ |
| three | *trei- (full grade)/*tri- (zero grade) | *treies |
| four | *kʷetwor- (o-grade)/*kʷetur- (zero grade),
see also the kʷetwóres rule | *kʷetuōr |
| five | *penkʷe | *penkʷe |
| six | *s(w)eḱs; originally perhaps *weḱs | *(s)uéks |
| seven | *septm̥ | *séptm |
| eight | *oḱtō, *oḱtou or *h₃eḱtō, *h₃eḱtou | *h₃eḱteh₃ |
| nine | *(h₁)newn̥ | *(h₁)néun |
| ten | *deḱm̥(t) | *déḱmt |
| twenty | *wīḱm̥t-; originally perhaps *widḱomt- | *duidḱmti |
| thirty | *trīḱomt-; originally perhaps *tridḱomt- | *trih₂dḱomth₂ |
| forty | *kʷetwr̥̄ḱomt-; originally perhaps *kʷetwr̥dḱomt- | *kʷeturdḱomth₂ |
| fifty | *penkʷēḱomt-; originally perhaps *penkʷedḱomt- | *penkʷedḱomth₂ |
| sixty | *s(w)eḱsḱomt-; originally perhaps *weḱsdḱomt- | *ueksdḱomth₂ |
| seventy | *septm̥̄ḱomt-; originally perhaps *septm̥dḱomt- | *septmdḱomth₂ |
| eighty | *oḱtō(u)ḱomt-; originally perhaps *h₃eḱto(u)dḱomt- | *h₃eḱth₃dḱomth₂ |
| ninety | *(h₁)newn̥̄ḱomt-; originally perhaps *h₁newn̥dḱomt- | *h₁neundḱomth₂ |
| hundred | *ḱm̥tom; originally perhaps *dḱm̥tom | *dḱmtóm |
| thousand | *ǵheslo-, *tusdḱomti | *ǵʰes-l- |
Lehmann (1993, 252-255) believes that the numbers greater than ten were constructed separately in the dialects groups and that *
ḱm̥tóm originally meant "a large number" rather than specifically "one hundred."
Sample texts
As PIE was spoken by a prehistoric society, no genuine sample texts are available, but since the 19th century modern scholars have made various attempts to compose example texts for purposes of illustration. These texts are educated guesses at best;
Calvert Watkins in 1969 observes that in spite of its 150 years' history, comparative linguistics is not in the position to reconstruct a single well-formed sentence in PIE. Nevertheless, such texts do have the merit of giving an impression of what a coherent utterance in PIE might have sounded like.
Published PIE sample texts:
Notes
References
- Vyacheslav V. Ivanov and Thomas Gamkrelidze, The Early History of Indo-European Languages, Scientific American, vol. 262, N3, 110116, March, 1990
- A. Kammenhuber, "Aryans in the Near East," Haidelberg, 1968
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (1995). Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ISBN 90-272-2150-2 (Europe), ISBN 1-55619-504-4 (U.S.).Amsterdam">
- Buck, Carl Darling (1933). Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-07931-7.
- Lehmann, W., and L. Zgusta. 1979. Schleicher's tale after a century. In Festschrift for Oswald Szemerényi on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, ed. B. Brogyanyi, 455–66. Amsterdam.
- Mayrhofer, Manfred (1986). Indogermanische Grammatik, i/2: Lautlehre. Heidelberg: Winter.Heidelberg">
- Meier-Brügger, Michael (2003). Indo-European Linguistics. New York: de Gruyter. 3-11-017433-2.
- Sihler, Andrew L. (1995). New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508345-8.
- Szemerényi, Oswald (1996). Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics. Oxford.
- Whitney, William Dwight (1889). Sanskrit Grammar. Harvard University Press. ISBN 81-208-0621-2 (India), ISBN 0-486-43136-3 (Dover, US).
See also
Daughter proto-languages
External links
Pie can also refer to:
- Meanings derived from the baked food:
- Pieing, to throw a pie at someone.
- Pie chart, a circular chart type.
..... Click the link for more information. Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, the northern Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and much of Central Asia.
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Albanian (gjuha shqipe IPA /ˈɟuˌha ˈʃciˌpɛ/
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Anatolian languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages, which were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language.
List
- Hittite (nesili), attested from ca.
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Armenian}}}
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Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe.
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Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. During the 1st millennium BC, they were spoken across Europe, from the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea, up the Rhine and down the Danube to the
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Germanic languages are a group of related languages constituting a branch of the Indo-European (IE) language family. The common ancestor of all languages comprising this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the latter mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age Northern Europe.
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Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of four language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Nuristani, and Dardic.
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Italic subfamily is a member of the Centum branch of the Indo-European language family. It includes the Romance languages (including Italian, Catalan, Occitan, French, Corsican, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish), and a number of extinct languages.
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Phrygian language was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians, a people of the central Asia Minor.
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Writing system: Tocharian script
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ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: ine
ISO 639-3: either:
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Indo-European people are the speakers of the Indo-European languages, a major language family of Eurasia. In the context of linguistics, the term usually refers to Bronze Age (third to second millennia BC) speakers of Indo-European languages that had not yet split into the attested
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Albanians
ShqiptarëTotal population Approximately 8 million
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Albania
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8 to 10 million[1]
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Balts or Baltic peoples (Latvian: balti; Lithuanian: baltai; Latgalian: bolti
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Celts, normally pronounced /kɛlts/ (see article on pronunciation), is widely used to refer to the members of any of the peoples in Europe using the Celtic languages or descended from those who did.
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Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European-speaking peoples, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic languages which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
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17,000,000
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Indo-Aryans are a wide collection of peoples united by their common status as speakers of the Indo-Aryan (Indic/Indian) branch of the family of Indo-European and Indo-Iranian languages.
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Indo-Iranian peoples consist of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples, that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages. An archaic term for these peoples is Aryan.
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The Iranian peoples (See[1] for local names) are a collection of ethnic groups defined by their usage of Iranian languages and their descent from ancient Iranian peoples.
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Ancient Italic peoples are all those peoples that lived in Italy before the Roman domination. Not all of these various peoples are linguistically or ethnically closely related.
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Slavic peoples are a branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in Europe, where they constitute roughly a third of the population. Since emerging from their original homeland (most commonly thought to be in Eastern Europe) in the early 6th century, they have inhabited most of
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