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D CHRON C
VOL.I NO.l
SPRING 1984
OLMS
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DI CHRONIC
International Journal for Historical Linguistics
Revue internationale pour Ia linguistique historique
lnternationale Zeitschrift
f r
Historische Linguistik
EDITORI L DVISORY BO RD
Francisco R. Adrados Madrid)
Anders Ahlqvist Galway,
Eire)
Henning Andersen Copenhagen)
Raimo Anttila Los Angeles)
Franc;:ois
Bader
EPHE,
Paris)
James Bynon SOAS, London)
Desmond
T. Cole Johannesburg)
William Cowan Carleton)
Jacek Fisiak Poznan)
Paul Friedrich Chicago)
Thomas
V.
Gamkrelidze Tbilisi)
Vladimir I. Georgiev Sofia)
Anna Giacalone Ramat Pavia)
Roberto Gusmani Udine)
Kenneth
L.
Hale M.I.T.)
Henry M. Hoenigswald Philadelphia)
Paul J. Hopper Bjnghamton, N.Y.)
Tore Janson Stockholm)
Guy Jucquois Louvain-la-Neuve)
Bh. Krishnamurti Hyderabad)
Roger Lass Cape Town)
Winfred P. Lehmann Austin, Tex.)
Charles N.
Li
Santa Barbara, Cal.)
David W. Lightfoot Maryland)
J. Peter Maher NEIU, Chicago)
Yakov Malkiel Berkeley, Cal.)
Manfred Mayrhofer Wien)
Roy Andrew Miller Seattle, Wash.)
Andrew Pawley Auckland, N.Z.)
Rebecca Posner Oxford)
Martin
B.
Harris Salford)
Shiro Hattori Tokyo) Calvert Watkins Harvard)
Karl Horst Schmidt Bonn)
Jurgen Untermann Ki:iln)
Philip
H.
Baldi
Pennsylvania State University)
ssociate Editor
EDITORS
Allan R Barnhard
Boston)
Review Editor
AIM SCOPE
Konrad Koerner
University
o
Ottawa)
General Editor
Diachronica has been established as a forum for the exchange and synthesis
o
information concerning all aspects
o
Historical Linguistics and pertaining to all
language families. Both theory-oriented and data-oriented contributions are welcome.
In
order to ensure competence in
all
areas of research the editors are assisted by a large
and distinguished international Editorial Advisory Board, whose members are consulted
in the evaluation
o
manuscripts and in the approval of material for publication in the
journal.
Diachronica appears twice a year in Spring and Fall), each issue consisting o between
3-5 articles, a review article, 5-10 reviews, a miscellanea section carrying notes and
queries, discussions and reports, and a publications received rubric, which provides
capsule information on recent works in the field.
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Diachronica 1:1.137-141 1984)
Indo-European
Noun
I n f l e c t i o n :
Deve lopmenta l His to ry .
By
Kenneth
Shie lds , J r . Foreword by Will iam R. Schmal
s t i eg .
Univers i ty Park and London:
The
Pennsylvania
Sta te Univers i ty
Press ,
1982. Pp.
xi ,
106.
Reviewed
by ALLAN R. BOMHARD Bos ton Mass
PRELIMINARY REMARKS: This
book w i l l
probably
not s t
wel l
with those Indo-Europeanists who s t ead fas t l y adhere to
the t r ad i t iona l
recons t ruc t ion o f PIE nominal i n f l ec t ion -
t he re are simply too many
ideas
here
t h a t
chal lenge accepted
dogma.
Shields
has at tempted to b lun t some o f the
i n e v i t
able c r i t i c i sm
t h a t
he
w i l l r ece ive from
the t r ad i t i ona l i s t s
by beginning
his book
with a b r i e f discuss ion of the bas ic
t heo re t i ca l
and methodological
assumptions
underlying his
approach
to the
problems of
recons t ruc t ing the preh i s t o r i c
development of nominal i n f l ec t ion
in the
IE paren t language.
Indo-Europeanists would do wel l , when reading t h i s book, to
ponder
the comments Shields
makes
in the In t roduct ion -
Shields has
a l o t to
say i n t h i s
shor t monograph, and
t
deserves ca re fu l , unbiased cons ide ra t ion . Not
everyth ing
he says
i s convincing,
but
the
book, as a whole,
i s
f i l l ed
with f resh
ideas
and proves , a t the
very
l e a s t , t ha t we
do
not
ye t
have a l l
the
answers
and
t h a t
the
t r ad i t iona l
recon
s t ruc t i on
of
PIE
nominal
i n f l ec t ion i s
but
one
o f severa l
poss ib le recons t ruc t ions .
The book
i s
divided i n to f ive chapters : Chapter 1
i s
a
genera l
in t roduc t ion .
Chapter 2 deals with nominal i n f l e c
t i on
in ea r l y
IE, Chapter 3 with the
enrichment
o f
the case
system, and
Chapter
4 with a d i scuss ion o f the
or ig in
of
the non-s ingu la r and
the
development of the
feminine
gender .
Fina l ly ,
the book
ends
with a b r i e f chronological
summary
of
the
developments discussed
in the preceding th ree chapters .
Chapter
1:
I n t r oduc t i on :
Shields
fol lows Schmalst ieg
in
assuming a se r i e s o f monophthongizat ions of preconson
an t a l diphthongs
with in
the development of PIE. Since t h i s
hypothes is p lays
an
impor tan t
p a r t
in his
proposals
concern
ing the development of nominal i n f l ec t ion , Shields should
have
discussed t h i s
theory in grea te r de ta i l .
Since t h i s
theory
i s cont rove rs ia l and not ye t wide ly
accepted , the
reader should consul t the
primary a r t i c l e s by
Schmalst ieg
to apprec ia te
fu l ly
the rami f i ca t ions of t h i s theory . For
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138
ALLAN R
BOMBARD:
REVIEW
OF
SHIELDS (1982)
my p a r t , I am
sympathet ic
to the bas ic premises o f t h i s
theory ,
though I
would d isagree with
some
o f
the
d e t a i l s .
Chap te r : Nominal I n f l e c t i o n in Ear ly Indo Eur ope an :
Shields makes
severa l
impor tant proposa ls in t h i s
chap te r .
F i r s t , he assumes t h a t in its
most
pr imi t ive
s tages ,
Indo
European
was
probably an i s o l a t i n g language l i ke Chinese .
Shields i s no t the f i r s t to make such a claim.
However,
one
may
l e g i t im a te ly
ques t ion
the
va l id i ty o f t h i s
assumpt ion.
In
my
opinion , caut ion i s c a l l e d fo r . Obviously, something
e x i s t e d in pre-PIE and
in pre-pre-PIE, but
the t ru t h
i s
t ha t
we
r ea l ly j u s t
do
no t know
what
t h a t something
was.
t i s
j u s t as
l i ke l y t h a t pre-PIE was i n f l ec t ed and, in l ike man
ner ,
pre-pre-PIE. Sure ly , if the re ever were a s tage o f
development when PIE was an i s o l a t i n g language, it must
have
been a t an ext remely remote per iod o f t ime. That language
may
no t have
even been
PIE in
the
s t r i c t e s t
sense
o f
the
term bu t , r a t he r , a language ances t ra l to PIE proper and
another
or o the r proto- languages . However, t he re i s
no
ques t ion ing the
suppos i t ion
t h a t the development o f the
case
system found in
the
form of PIE
ex i s t i ng
immediately
p r i o r to i t s
d i s i n t eg ra t i on i n t o
the h i s to r i c a l l y - a t t e s t e d
daughter
languages
was
a gradua l
process and t ha t
se v e ra l
o f the
case endings
were
r a the r l a t e add i t ions . The
same
process o f gradua l development must a l so have occurred in
the
ca tegor i es
o f
number
and
gender .
I am
in
fu l l
agree
ment with Shields on these l a t t e r po in t s .
Another
impor tant
assumption
in
t h i s
chap te r
i s
t h a t
PIE was once an
e rga t ive - type
language. Shie lds , aga in , i s
no t
the
f i r s t
to make t h i s assumpt ion. Though t h i s theory
i s
indeed
specula t ive ,
the re
are many subt le
c lues
t ha t
po in t in t h i s
d i rec t i on , and
it i s ,
the re fore ,
highly prob
able t h a t Shields i s c or r e c t
here , though
much work still
needs to
be
done. Tied in with the e r g a t i v i t y theory i s
the
assumption t h a t e a r ly
PIE possessed j u s t two formal ly
marked case
ca tegor i es :
an
abso lu te case
in
-N
and an
e rga t ive case in *-ri and *- r . One
weakness
in t h i s formu
l a t i on
i s
t ha t it
i s
the
abso lu te case
and
no t
the e rga t ive
t h a t would be expec ted to have a
*- i l
case ending. Shields
i s
wel l
aware
of
t h i s
problem
and
a t tempts
to
dea l
with
it
by
presen t ing t h e o r e t i c a l arguments in suppor t
o f
his
p o s i
t i on . Though h i s arguments are ext remely persuas ive , I
cannot
say
t ha t Shields
has
d i s pe l l e d a l l doubt .
Next ,
Shields
d i scusses
the t r a n s i t i o n of
PIE from
an
e rg a t i v e - t y p e language to a nomina t ive /accusa t ive - type l a n
guage
and, f ina l ly , the
e rga t ive su f f i x * - r .
Shie lds p ro
poses
t h a t the o ld e rga t ive * - r ending was reana lyzed
as
a
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140
ALLAN
R
BOMBARD: REVIEW OF SHIELDS (1982)
Chapter 4: The
Orig in o f t he Non-S ingu lar
and
t he
Deve lopment
o f
t he Feminine Gender: Shie lds
begins
t h i s
chap te r with a
de t a i l ed d i scuss ion
o f
the
o r i g i n o f
the
non-s ingu la r .
He mentions t h a t the
appearance
o f s pe c i f
i c a l l y
non-s ingu la r
format ions
was
a
r a t he r
l a t e
develop
ment in PIE. He
then
proceeds to
discuss
how the t h ree
suf f ixes -N,
- i ,
and
- s
were
incorpora ted i n to
the de
c lens iona l
system
as markers of non-s ingu la r i ty : F i r s t ,
Shields mainta ins t h a t the voca l ic - s tem animate nouns
formed
a
genera l i zed
• • . non-s ingu la r va r i a n t
by
adding to
the s tem the s u f f i x *-N: -o -N, -a -N, - i - N , and -u -N .
Because o f phonologica l changes
,
the fol lowing pa i r s
of sandhi double ts were crea ted: -oN / -o , -aN/ -a ,
- iN / - I , and -uN/ -u . Only the preconsonanta l forms are
genera l ly
re t a ined
in the
non-s ingu la r forms
in the
h i s
t o r i c a l d i a l e c t s ,
where
they are a t t e s t e d as markers o f
the
nominat ive-accusat ive
dual
Then, l a t e r ,
the
non
s ingu la r s u f f i x - s was added to these endings
y i e l d i n g
- a s ,
- I s , and
- u s , which became
the nomina t ive-accusa
t i ve p lu ra l
forms Next ,
the non-s ingu la r marker - i
was incorpora ted i n t o the o-s tem dec lens ion ,
where
it
came
to ind ica te the nominat ive p l u ra l . Though I
persona l ly
would pre f e r a
l a ryngea l
exp lana t ion fo r some o f these
forms, Shie lds ' proposals must
be cons idered to be qu i t e
reasonable from a pure ly ob jec t ive po in t of
view.
Shields then proceeds to a d iscuss ion o f
the develop
ment
o f the
feminine
endings . Shields expands
upon
Schmidt's
theory
o f
a
close
r e l a t i ons h ip
between
the
primary feminine
markers -a , - I , and -u and ce r t a i n
neu te r p lu ra l
endings .
Bas ica l ly ,
Shields proposes t ha t e a r l i e r co l l ec t i ves in -a
(+* -a N ) ,
- I
(+*- i N) , and
-u (+ *-uN
were r e i n t e rp re t ed
as
s ingula r s . By chance, a number of these new s ingu la rs
r e f e r r e d
to beings
o f the feminine
sex ,
and
-a ,
- I , and
-u
were
segmented
as f emale - s ign i fy ing
su f f i xes .
This
s t r a i g h t - fo rw a rd exp lana t ion i s a model of c l a r i t y and must
su re ly come
c lose
to being c or r e c t . My one
disagreement
i s ,
as above, t h a t I
persona l ly
favor a l a ryngea l exp lana t ion .
Shie lds concludes h i s
d iscuss ion
o f the
feminine
endings
with
a
synops is
o f t h e i r subsequent development.
Next , Shields sugges ts t h a t the
appearance
o f these
ca tegor i es [ the non-s ingular number and
feminine
gender]
i s
in t ima te ly r e l a t ed
to the
appearance
o f the
weak
ad jec
t i v a l declens ion in Germanic.
The
f ina l
p o i n t
discussed
in
t h i s
chap te r
concerns the
o r i g i n o f the
end ing les s
l oc a t ive . Here, Shields fol lows
Kurylowicz
in be l i ev ing t h a t
the loca t ive
in
- i
preda tes
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REVIEWS COMPTES RENDUS
BESPRECHUNGEN
4
the loca t ive in - ~ .
He
derives the endingless loca t ive
from the prevoca l i c
var i an t of
the o ld
nominative in neuter
consonant stems.
Chap te r
: r i e f
Chrono log i ca l
Summary:
In
t h i s
shor t chapter ,
Shields summarizes
the
major
poin ts
dis
cussed
in h i s book. He div ides the development of nominal
declens ion
in to f ive
s tages merely to have a usefu l frame
work
in which
to
proceed. These s tages are :
1.
Stage I : PIE was an e rga t ive - type language.
2. Stage I I : PIE became a nominat ive-accusat ive language.
3 . Stage I I I : Emergence of
obl ique
and
vocat ive cases .
By
the end
of
th i s s tage , only two
c las ses
of nouns
- - animates
and inanimates
neuters)
were in evidence . • •
4 . Stage IV:
Stage of increas ing
d ia lec ta l d i f f e r en t ia t ion .
Monophthongization
of
diphthongs and morphological iza t ion
of
accent occur .
Enrichment of the case system
and devel
opment
of
non-singular formations take
place .
5.
Stage V: Dis in tegra t ion
of PIE
parent language.
Shields
c loses
his monograph with what amounts
to
an
anoAoyCa. This
could
well have
been
omit ted , s ince
it
only
de t rac t s from an otherwise f ine book.*
R e v i e w e r s A d d r e s s :
Allan R.
Bomhard
86 Waltham St ree t
BOSTON, M 02118
U.S.A.
NOTE
*The
major
por t ion
of
th i s
review
or ig ina l ly
appeared
in
General
Linguis t ics vol . 22,
no. 4, pp. 269-72,
1982).
It
is
reproduced
here
wi th the
kind permiss ion
of the publ isher (The Pennsylvania
Sta te Uni
ve r s i ty P re s s ) .
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TABLE OF CONTENTS OF
DIACHRON CA :
SPRING
1984)
Editorial ....................................................................................................................... vii
ARTICLES I AUFSATZE
Norbert Boretzky (Bochum): The lndo-Europeanist Model of Sound Change
and Genetic Affinity and Its Application
to
Exotic Languages ................................. .
Andre Martinet (Paris): De Ia synchronie dynamique
a
a diachronie . .... ....... ....... ... . 53
Vladimir I. Georgiev (Sofia): Die drei Hauptper ioden des lndoeuropaischen .............. 65
Witold Mariczak (Cracovie): Origine meridionale du gotique ...................................... 79
REVIEW ARTICLE I RAPPORT CRITIQUE I FORSCHUNGSBERICHT
Ladeslav Zgusta (Urbana, Ill.): The Indo-European Lexicon by Robert Beard .......... 103
REVIEWS I COMPTES RENDUS I BESPRECHUNGEN
Anders Ahlqvist, ed., Papers from the Fifth International Conference on Historical
Linguistics
(Amsterdam Philadelphia, 1982), reviewed
by
Philip
H.
Baldi
(University Park, Pa. ... . ..... ... . .. . .... .. ... . ..... ... . .. . ...... ... . ..... ...... ... . ...... ....... 111
Philip Baldi, n Introduction to the Indo European Languages (Carbondale
Edwardsville, 1983), reviewed by John T. Jensen (Ottawa) .................................. 117
Graham Mallinson Barry J. Blake, Language Typology: Cross linguistic studies
n syntax
(Amsterdam - New
York
Oxford, 1981
,
reviewed by Paul Kent
Andersen (Bielefeld) . .... ..... ..... ... . .. . .. . .. . ..... ..... .. ... . ..... ....... ... . ..... ....... ... . 121
J. Peter Maher et al., eds., Papers from the Third International Conference on
Historical Linguistics (Amsterdam, 1982), reviewed by Tadao Shimomiya
(Tokyo) ..................................................................................................................
131
Kenneth Shields, Jr.,
Indo European Noun Inflection: A developmental history
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Allan
R.
Bomhard (Boston) ............. 137
MISCELLANEA: NOTES I NOTIZEN - DISCUSSIONS I DISKUSSIONEN
Martti Nyman (Helsinki): On Latin
halara
and
anhelare .............................................
143
Report on the 6th International Conference on Historical Linguistics (1983) ............ 145
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED I OUVRAGES RE<;:US I EINGEGANGENE SCHRIFTEN. 151