Schmidt–Hackstein's law is a Proto-Indo-European sound law that describes the deletion of the language's laryngeal consonants – *h₁, *h₂, and *h₃ – in certain contexts. In short, when a laryngeal consonant is preceded by any other consonant at the end of a syllable and followed by a consonant cluster, the laryngeal is dropped altogether. The law is named after the German linguists Gernot Schmidt, who first described the law in 1973 and considered it a development unique to Proto-Indo-Iranian, and Olav Hackstein, who demonstrated its presence in the earlier Proto-Indo-European language in 2002.
History
editGernot Schmidt first described the law in 1973 in a paper entitled "The Iranic words for 'daughter' and 'father' and the reflexes of the interconsonantal H (ə) in the Indo-European languages".[a][1] In it, he discusses the many forms of the term 'daughter' in the Indo-Iranian languages and concludes that they could not be reconciled with a single Proto-Indo-European form without an additional rule. To explain, there were four distinct derivations in the Indo-Iranian daughter languages: Sanskrit attested only a single form – दुहिता duhitā́[b] – while the Iranic languages had three distinct forms: *dugdar- (attested in Gathic Avestan 𐬛𐬎𐬔𐬆𐬛𐬀𐬭 dugədar-), *duxθrī (cf. Old Persian *duhçī-, attested in Modern Persian دوشیزه dušize 'young girl, miss'), and *duxtar (attested in Modern Persian دختر doxtar 'daughter').[2]
Based on the absence of Bartholomae's law, Schmidt determined that the latter two reflexes could not have derived from the Proto-Indo-European form *dʰugh₂tḗr directly.[3] Instead, he believed they must have come from a later *dʰukt(e)r, arguing that the laryngeal sound *h₂ was dropped and the *g was devoiced to *k by regressive assimilation. Schmidt argued that the cluster of CHCC – where "C" represents any consonant and "H" represents any laryngeal consonant – was thereby reduced to a simpler pronunciation of CCC. Although *dʰugh₂tḗr itself would not be subject to the rule in its nominative form, as its most complex cluster is CHC, it was likely changed in that form as well based on analogy with oblique forms that did undergo the process, such as the genitive singular form *dʰugh₂trés which includes the CHCC cluster *-gh₂tr-.[4]
In 2002, Olav Hackstein revisited the sound change in a paper entitled "PIE *CH.CC > *C.CC" (German: Uridg. *CH.CC > *C.CC).
Overview
editThe law affects the laryngeal consonants of the Proto-Indo-European language – *h₁, *h₂, and *h₃ – which in turn generally affects the vowel realization in the daughter languages. In the descendant languages, there are some instances were
Relative chronology
editAlthough the law was originally described as only affecting the Indo-Iranian languages, the law was probably operative in the Proto-Indo-European language.
References
editNotes
editCitations
edit- ^
- For claims that it was the first description, see Byrd 2015, p. 89.
- For the paper itself, see Schmidt 1973.
- ^ a b Byrd 2015, p. 89.
- ^ Schmidt 1973, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Byrd 2015, pp. 89–90.
Sources
edit- Byrd, Andrew Miles (2015). The Indo-European Syllable. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-29302-1.
- Hackstein, Olav [in German] (2002). "Uridg. *CH.CC > *C.CC" [PIE *CH.CC > *C.CC]. Historische Sprachforschung (in German). 115 (1). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 1–22. ISSN 0935-3518. JSTOR 41289070. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
- Schmidt, Gernot (1973). Haebler, Claus; Hofmann, Erich; Neumann, Günter (eds.). "Die iranischen Wörter für „Tochter" und „Vater" und die Reflexe des interkonsonantischen H (ə) in den idg. Sprachen" [The Iranic words for "daughter" and "father" and the reflexes of the interconsonantal H (ə) in the Indo-European languages]. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachforschung (in German). 87: 36–83. Retrieved 10 July 2024 – via Internet Archive.