LINGUIST List 18.669
Sat Mar 03 2007
Diss: Historical Linguistics: Gorbachov: 'Indo-European Origins...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Yaroslav
Gorbachov,
Indo-European Origins of the Nasal Inchoative Class in Germanic and Balto-Slav
Message 1: Indo-European Origins of the Nasal Inchoative Class in Germanic and Balto-Slav
Date: 01-Mar-2007
From: Yaroslav Gorbachov <gorbachfas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Indo-European Origins of the Nasal Inchoative Class in Germanic and Balto-Slav
Institution: Harvard University
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2007
Author: Yaroslav V. Gorbachov
Dissertation Title: Indo-European Origins of the Nasal Inchoative Class in Germanic and Balto-Slav
Linguistic Field(s):
Historical Linguistics
Language Family(ies): Indo-European
Dissertation Director:
Jay H. Jasanoff
Dissertation Abstract:
In my dissertation I take up a perennial problem of Germanic andBalto-Slavic historical linguistics, one which has drawn scholarly interestliterally from the very moment Indo-European (IE) studies emerged as afield some two hundred years ago.
The nature of the problem is easily stated. All attested IE languages,such as Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Germanic, Slavic, etc., have present-tenseclasses formed by infixing or suffixing a nasal element to the verb stem.These nasal classes look very similar in all historical IE languages andappear to have descended from a single Proto Indo-European (PIE) category. However, despite the broad similarity among the nasal-affixed classesacross the cognate IE languages, there is a puzzling divide between theselanguages with respect to the semantic and formal behavior of nasal-affixedverbs. In the vast majority of IE languages the nasal-affixed verbs tendto be functionally transitive and terminative and formally athematic (cf.Ved. rinák-ti 'leaves' < PIE *linékw- + *-ti). Yet there is a problematicgroup of closely related IE branches - Slavic, Baltic, and Germanic ("NorthIE"), where the nasal-affixed verbs have the opposite - intransitive andinchoative - function and thematic inflection (cf. Lith. liñka 'is left,stays' ultimately from *linkw- + *-é- + *-ti).
There are two traditional approaches to the formal and functionaldiscrepancy between PIE *lin(é)p- 'attach' and "North IE" *liNp-é- 'stickaround' be left.'
1. "North IE" nasal presents have nothing to do with their look-alikeselsewhere, and the formal similarity between them is only accidental (aview largely abandoned by the beginning of the 20th century).
2. "North IE" nasal presents have acquired the opposite formal andfunctional properties only within the individual histories of the IEbranches (the usual assumption).
The solutions proposed within both approaches have problematic aspects thatundermine their validity. I propose a third possibility: the thematicinflection, the peculiar intransitive semantics, and some othercharacteristics of the "North IE" inchoative category all point to the PIEh2e-conjugation 1.sg. *liNp-h2é, 2.sg. *liNp-h2é, 3.sg. *liNp-é, etc. Thisnewly posited PIE formation is different from the well-known PIEnasal-infixed class (*linép-mi) reflected in the IE languages outside"North IE."
Starting from the h2e-conjugation paradigm postulated above, the thematicinflection of the "North IE" inchoative class receives an easy explanation. It arose naturally with the 3.sg. *liNp-é attaching the productive 3.sg.ending *-ti - a trivial development, known to have happened to otherh2e-conjugation categories in the daughter languages.
The unexpected intransitive semantics of the "North IE" inchoative classwould also fall into place: its proposed source is a h2e-conjugationcategory, and the h2e-conjugation originally had "inert," middle-likesemantics in PIE, i.e. it denoted states and passively experiencedprocesses, such as 'stay,' 'be on fire,' 'fall apart,' and the like.
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