(Proto-)Indo-Iranian: historical phonology and basic lexicon
Simeon Polshin
Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology
Within the list of approx. 180 selected basic meanings such as ‘black’, ‘hand’, ‘rain’ etc, a lexical database of approx. 45 Indo-Iranian languages, including such rarely accessed ones as Dardic and Nuristani, is prepared. By applying the methods of historical linguistics, this lexical database allows answering the following questions.
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Internal classification of Indo-Iranian languages using quantitative methods. This includes the following topics. 1.1. New subgroup of Indo-Iranian languages of those called “outer” ones is detected. 1.2. It is shown that Dardic, Nuristani and “outer” languages form a separate sub-branch of Indo-Iranian more close to Indo-Aryan (in the strict sense) than to Iranian
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Areal relations between these three sub-branches of Indo-Iranian are studied using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Two major directions of areal influences are found. 2.1. Iranian influence on Dardic, possibly as a by-product of Islamization. 2.2. Early Indo-Aryan influence on Dardic-Nuristani-“outer” languages, possibly on their common ancestor.
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Historical phonology of Indo-Iranian languages is studied for the first time on its own right, not simply as an exponent of the assumed Proto-Indo-European one. Rows of regular phonemic correspondences between Indo-Iranian languages are identified and the phonemic values of proto-phonemes lying behind these rows are discussed, in particular the nature of Indo-Iranian aspirated stops, and the reflex of Indo-European palato-alveolar *k’.
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Within the above-mentioned list of basic meanings, Proto-Indo-Iranian basic lexicon is reconstructed in the form of approx. 400 proto-roots; only about 150 of them have reflexes both in Sanskrit and Avestan, which justify the need to go beyond the usual Sanskrit-Avestan comparisons. Etymological dictionaries of concrete Indo-Iranian languages such as Sanskrit, Ossetic, and Khotanese, are extensively used.
ISBN 9783969391921. LINCOM Language Research 14. 122pp. 2024.
