Peter Barber
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199680504
- eISBN:
- 9780191760525
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680504.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book is an investigation of how semivowels were realised in Indo-European and in early Greek. More specifically, it examines the extent to which Indo-European *i and *y were independent ...
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This book is an investigation of how semivowels were realised in Indo-European and in early Greek. More specifically, it examines the extent to which Indo-European *i and *y were independent phonemes, in what respects their alternation was predictable, and how this situation changed as Indo-European developed into Greek. Evidence from Greek, Germanic and Vedic are crucial for understanding the Indo-European situation; this book undertakes a re-examination of the evidence provided by Gothic and Vedic, and offers the first comprehensive survey of the Greek evidence. The impact of this evidence on the theories of Sievers, Edgerton, Lindeman, Schindler and Seebold is assessed. This inquiry has significant morphological as well as phonological components; a proper understanding of the early behaviour of semivowels depends on disentangling considerable morphological innovation in the comparative adjectives in *-yos-/-iyos-, the nominals in *-ye/o-, *-iye/o-, *-y-e/o-, *-i-(y)e/o-, and *-tye/o-, the feminine suffix *-ya, and verbal formations in *-ye/o- (and to a limited extent *-i-(y)e/o). The evidence provided by optatives in *-yeH 1- and morphological categories showing the effects of assibilation is also assessed. The comprehensive nature of this study, its sensitivity to questions of relative chronology, and careful assessment of what is inherited and what is innovative, enable substantive conclusions to be drawn regarding the behaviour of semivowels at various stages in the history of Greek and in Indo-European itself. In turn these conclusions bear on such questions as the interaction of semivowel syllabicity with syllable and foot structure, sandhi phenomena, and the moraic properties of obstruents (including laryngeals).Less
This book is an investigation of how semivowels were realised in Indo-European and in early Greek. More specifically, it examines the extent to which Indo-European *i and *y were independent phonemes, in what respects their alternation was predictable, and how this situation changed as Indo-European developed into Greek. Evidence from Greek, Germanic and Vedic are crucial for understanding the Indo-European situation; this book undertakes a re-examination of the evidence provided by Gothic and Vedic, and offers the first comprehensive survey of the Greek evidence. The impact of this evidence on the theories of Sievers, Edgerton, Lindeman, Schindler and Seebold is assessed. This inquiry has significant morphological as well as phonological components; a proper understanding of the early behaviour of semivowels depends on disentangling considerable morphological innovation in the comparative adjectives in *-yos-/-iyos-, the nominals in *-ye/o-, *-iye/o-, *-y-e/o-, *-i-(y)e/o-, and *-tye/o-, the feminine suffix *-ya, and verbal formations in *-ye/o- (and to a limited extent *-i-(y)e/o). The evidence provided by optatives in *-yeH 1- and morphological categories showing the effects of assibilation is also assessed. The comprehensive nature of this study, its sensitivity to questions of relative chronology, and careful assessment of what is inherited and what is innovative, enable substantive conclusions to be drawn regarding the behaviour of semivowels at various stages in the history of Greek and in Indo-European itself. In turn these conclusions bear on such questions as the interaction of semivowel syllabicity with syllable and foot structure, sandhi phenomena, and the moraic properties of obstruents (including laryngeals).
P. J. Barber
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199680504
- eISBN:
- 9780191760525
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680504.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter 5 discusses the evidence of the nominal suffixes *-ye/o-, *-iye/o-, *-y-e/o-, *-i-(y)e/o-, and *-tye/o-. This chapter is situated in Part II (Greek Nominal Categories). Secondary material, ...
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Chapter 5 discusses the evidence of the nominal suffixes *-ye/o-, *-iye/o-, *-y-e/o-, *-i-(y)e/o-, and *-tye/o-. This chapter is situated in Part II (Greek Nominal Categories). Secondary material, examples which can be shown to be only superficially relevant, and ambiguous examples are set aside, before the more decisive evidence is considered. This evidence is divided into categories according to the level of comparative support, before the overall patterns in the evidence are assessed.Less
Chapter 5 discusses the evidence of the nominal suffixes *-ye/o-, *-iye/o-, *-y-e/o-, *-i-(y)e/o-, and *-tye/o-. This chapter is situated in Part II (Greek Nominal Categories). Secondary material, examples which can be shown to be only superficially relevant, and ambiguous examples are set aside, before the more decisive evidence is considered. This evidence is divided into categories according to the level of comparative support, before the overall patterns in the evidence are assessed.
P. J. Barber
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199680504
- eISBN:
- 9780191760525
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680504.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter 6 is situated in Part III (Verbal Categories) and discusses the evidence which could be provided by the *-ye/o- verbs and the complications in assessing it. The significance of the failure to ...
More
Chapter 6 is situated in Part III (Verbal Categories) and discusses the evidence which could be provided by the *-ye/o- verbs and the complications in assessing it. The significance of the failure to find any *-iye/o- verbs is a central consideration and the invariant nature of the Rigvedic -ya- verbal suffix is subjected to thorough investigation before turning to the invariant Greek *-ye/o- suffix, which turns out to require a rather different treatment. A wide variety of secondary, ambiguous and etymologically obscure material is discussed and set aside, so that genuine *-ye/o- verbs can be examined in the following chapter. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which the outcome of laryngeals can make an accurate assessment difficult.Less
Chapter 6 is situated in Part III (Verbal Categories) and discusses the evidence which could be provided by the *-ye/o- verbs and the complications in assessing it. The significance of the failure to find any *-iye/o- verbs is a central consideration and the invariant nature of the Rigvedic -ya- verbal suffix is subjected to thorough investigation before turning to the invariant Greek *-ye/o- suffix, which turns out to require a rather different treatment. A wide variety of secondary, ambiguous and etymologically obscure material is discussed and set aside, so that genuine *-ye/o- verbs can be examined in the following chapter. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which the outcome of laryngeals can make an accurate assessment difficult.
P. J. Barber
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199680504
- eISBN:
- 9780191760525
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680504.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter 7 is situated in Part III (Verbal Categories) and discusses denominative, primary and deverbative verbal formations in *-ye/o-. Morphological classification of various types of *-ye/o- verbs ...
More
Chapter 7 is situated in Part III (Verbal Categories) and discusses denominative, primary and deverbative verbal formations in *-ye/o-. Morphological classification of various types of *-ye/o- verbs is introduced, and syntactic and semantic criteria are explored, all of which enable the identification of some later categories of *-ye/o- verbs, further aiding in assessing which examples are relevant to the validity of Sievers’ Law. The categories of zero grade and full grade primary *-ye/o- verbs are subjected to close scrutiny and their Indo-European origins are explored and assessed. The antiquity of deverbative categories is discussed and their relevance to Sievers’ Law. An overall conclusion is reached on the possibility that Sievers’ Law applied to this category in principle, in spite of the invariant nature of the suffix in Greek and Vedic.Less
Chapter 7 is situated in Part III (Verbal Categories) and discusses denominative, primary and deverbative verbal formations in *-ye/o-. Morphological classification of various types of *-ye/o- verbs is introduced, and syntactic and semantic criteria are explored, all of which enable the identification of some later categories of *-ye/o- verbs, further aiding in assessing which examples are relevant to the validity of Sievers’ Law. The categories of zero grade and full grade primary *-ye/o- verbs are subjected to close scrutiny and their Indo-European origins are explored and assessed. The antiquity of deverbative categories is discussed and their relevance to Sievers’ Law. An overall conclusion is reached on the possibility that Sievers’ Law applied to this category in principle, in spite of the invariant nature of the suffix in Greek and Vedic.
