|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
What do we know about the origin of the ablaut series as a tense marker in Germanic (or any other) languages?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
a look at OneLook took me to the Wikipedia, which had this: Ablaut From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In linguistics, the process of ablaut (from German ab-: off + laut: sound) is a vowel change accompanying a change in grammatic function. For example, the vowel change in English from i to a to u in sing (present tense), sang (preterite), sung (past-participle) is referred to as an ablaut. Verbs that display ablaut in English, and that do not form their preterites with a dental suffix like -ed or added -t or d, are called strong verbs. There used to be several regular classes of strong verbs in English, and many more of them; virtually all monosyllable verbs were strong verbs in Old English. Now, there are fewer of them; the force of analogy has remade many of them in the image of weak verbs, those verbs that form the preterite with a dental suffix. Sound changes like the Great Vowel Shift have also obscured some of the underlying regularity of the former classes of strong verbs. Now most of them are considered irregular verbs. Ablaut is a common characteristic of many Indo-European languages and is also known as gradation. Latin displays ablaut in verbs such as ago (present tense), "I drive"; egi, (perfect tense), "I drove." Ablaut is a semi-regular phenomenon that affects whole classes of verbs in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit. Indo-European had a characteristic general ablaut sequence that contrasted the vowel phonemes o/e/ə/Ø through the same root. Most philologists believe that the presence of laryngeals in the Indo-European roots, and their subsequent loss in most daughter languages, led to the development of several parallel ablaut sequences in Indo-European and its daughter languages.(e.a.) When ablaut is a regular feature of a language's grammar, it is often called vowel gradation. The ablaut is distinguished from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel, called umlaut. See also: reduplication; augment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablaut
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
here's Wikipedia on laryngeals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngeal_theoryneat stuff. wish I had more time today to look it over...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
It seems that the sound change came first and then the grammatical reanalysis. This is a process called grammaticalization and is much studied. Laryngeals are interestesting because they were posited by Saussure for the proto-language even though none of the daugther languages displayed them. Then along came Hittite, and it had an example of one laryngeal surviving. Though, Hittite may have been a sister language of PIE. Your mileage may vary.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Thanks, cygne. I never think to look at wikipedia.
Thanks, Nuncle. You're saying that it's lost in the mists of time?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
S'pose so. I've heard ablaut ascribed to a change in stress / tone in PIE words which why you have a bunch of e ~ o ~ null phonemes in some linguists' reconstructions of PIE phonology. OTOH, umlaut (a sibling process) is common enough in languages the world over, and (who knows) may be related to vowel harmony ...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
vowel harmonyooh, tell us more!
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Turkish and Finnish have it. The way it works in those languages is that there are X groups of vowels and endings have to match their vowel(s) with the vowels in the root / word they're attached to. Keeps things harmonious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_harmony
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
thanks, jheem, I never knew anything like that existed. cool.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,580
Members9,187
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
332
guests, and
0
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|