4/19/2019 Proto-Indo-Iranian language - Wikipedia

Proto-Indo-Iranian language
Proto-Indo-Iranian or Proto-Indo-Iranic[1] is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian/Indo-Iranic
branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd
millennium BC, and are often connected with the Sintashta culture of the Eurasian Steppe and the early Andronovo
archaeological horizon.

Proto-Indo-Iranian was a satem language, likely removed less than a millennium from the late Proto-Indo-European
language, its ancestor, and in turn removed less than a millennium from the Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda, its descendant.
It is the ancestor of the Indo-Aryan languages, the Iranian languages, and the Nuristani languages.

Contents
Descriptive phonology
Two palatal series
Laryngeal
Accent
Historical phonology
Subsequent sound changes
See also
References
Bibliography

Descriptive phonology
Proto-Indo-Iranian consonant segments
Coronal Palatal
Labial Velar Laryngeal
dental/alveolar post-alveolar first second

voiceless *p *t *ĉ *č *k
Plosive voiced *b *d *ĵ *ǰ *g
aspirated *bʰ *dʰ *ĵʰ *ǰʰ *gʰ

voiceless *s *š *H
Fricative
voiced (*z) (*ž)
Nasal *m *n
Liquid (*l) *r *r̥
Semivowel *y *w

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PII vowel segments

High *i *ī *u *ū
Low *a *ā

In addition to the vowels, *H, and *r̥ could function as the syllabic core.

Two palatal series

Proto-Indo-Iranian is hypothesized to have contained two series of stops or affricates in the palatal to postalveolar
region.[2] The phonetic nature of this contrast is not clear, and hence they are usually referred to as the primary or first
series (*ĉ *ĵ *ĵʰ, continuing Proto-Indo-European palatovelar *ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ) and the second or secondary series (*č *ǰ *ǰʰ,
continuing Proto-Indo-European plain and labialized velars, *k, *g, *gʰ and *kʷ, *gʷ, *gʷʰ, in palatalizing contexts). The
following table shows the most common reflexes of the two series (Proto-Iranian is the hypothetical ancestor to the
Iranian languages, including Avestan and Old Persian):[3][4]

PII Sanskrit Proto-Iranian Avestan Old Persian Nuristani

*ĉ ś ([ɕ]) *ts s θ ċ ([ts]) / š
*ĵ j ([ɟ])
*dz z d j ([dz]) / z
*ĵʰ h ([ɦ])
*č c *č č č č
*ǰ j ([ɟ])
*ǰ ǰ ǰ ǰ/ž
*ǰʰ h ([ɦ])

Laryngeal
Proto-Indo-European is usually hypothesized to have had three to four laryngeal consonants, each of which could occur in
either syllabic or non-syllabic positions. In Proto-Indo-Iranian, the laryngeals merged as one phoneme /*H/. Beekes
suggests that some instances of this /*H/ survived into Rigvedic Sanskrit and Avestan as unwritten glottal stops as
evidenced by metrics.[5]

Accent
Like Proto-Indo-European and Vedic Sanskrit (and also Avestan, though it was not written down[6]), Proto-Indo-Iranian
had a pitch accent system similar to present-day Japanese, conventionally indicated by an acute accent over the accented
vowel.

Historical phonology
The most distinctive phonological change separating Proto-Indo-Iranian from Proto-Indo-European is the collapse of the
ablauting vowels *e, *o, *a into a single vowel, Proto-Indo-Iranian *a (but see Brugmann's law). Grassmann's law,
Bartholomae's law, and the Ruki sound law were also complete in Proto-Indo-Iranian.

A fuller list of some of the hypothesized sound changes from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Indo-Iranian follows:

The Satem shift, consisting of two sets of related changes. The PIE palatals *ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ are fronted or affricated,
eventually resulting in PII *ĉ, *ĵ, *ĵʰ, while the PIE labiovelars *kʷ *gʷ *gʷʰ merge with the velars *k *g *gʰ.[7]

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PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin General Meaning

*ḱm̥tóm *ĉatám śatám satəm centum 'hundred'
*ǵónu *ĵā́ nu jā́ nu zānu genū 'knee'
*ǵʰimós *ĵʰimás himá ziiā̊ hiems 'winter' / 'snow'
*kʷós *kás kás ka quis 'who?, what?'
*gʷṓws *gā́ wš gaus gao bōs 'cow'
*gʷʰormós *gʰarmás grišma garəma formus 'warmth, heat'

The PIE liquids *l *r *l̥ *r̥ merge as *r *r̥.[8]

PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin General Meaning

*ḱléwos *ĉráwas śrávas srauua clueō 'fame, honor, word'
*wĺ̥ kʷos *wŕ̥kas vŕ̥kas vəhrka lupus 'wolf'

The PIE syllabic nasals *m̥ *n̥ merge with *a.[8]

PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin General Meaning

*déḱm̥ *dáĉm̥ *dáĉa dáśa dasā decem 'ten'
*n̥bʰrós *n̥bʰrás *abʰrás abhrá aβra imber 'rain, cloud'

Bartholomae's law: an aspirate immediately followed by a voiceless consonant becomes voiced stop + voiced
aspirate. In addition, dʰ + t > dᶻdʰ.[9]

PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan General Meaning

*ubʰtós *ubdʰás sámubdha ubdaēna 'woven' / 'made of woven material'
*wr̥dʰtós *wr̥dᶻdʰás vr̥ddʰá vərəzda 'grown, mature'
*dʰéwgʰti *dáwgdʰi dógdhi *daogdi 'to milk'

The Ruki rule: *s is retracted to *š when immediately following a liquid (*r *r̥ *l *l̥ ), a high vowel (*i *u), a PIE velar (*ḱ
*ǵ *ǵʰ *k *g *gʰ *kʷ *gʷ *gʷʰ) or the syllabic laryngeal *H̥.[10] Its allophone *z likewise becomes *ž.[8]

PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin General Meaning

*wisós *wišás víṣas viša vīrus 'poison, venom'
*ḱeHs- *ĉH̥šam aśiṣam sīšā 'teach!'
*ǵéwseti *ĵáwšati jóṣati zaošō gustus 'to like, taste'
*kʷsép- *kšáp- kṣáp- xšap- 'darkness'
*plúsis *plúšiš plúṣi *fruši pūlex 'flea, noxious insect'
*nisdós *niždás nīḷá/nīḍá *nižda nīdus 'nest'

Before a dental occlusive, *ĉ becomes *š and *ĵ becomes *ž. *ĵʰ also becomes *ž, with aspiration of the occlusive.[11]

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