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Proto-Indo-European Nasal Infixation Rule Paolo MILIZIA Università Degli Studi Di Roma

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Proto-Indo-European Nasal Infixation Rule Paolo MILIZIA Università Degli Studi Di Roma Proto-Indo-European Nasal Infixation Rule Paolo MILIZIA Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” The aim of this paper is to argue for the following set of hypotheses concerning the Proto- Indo-European nasal infixation process used to form present stems (e.g. *li-n(e)-kw- from *lejkw-). The PIE verbal nasal infix originated from the metathesis of a nasal suffix; infixation and suffixation were originally in complementary distribution. This distribution was determined by the following rule: when the degree of sonority of the last segment of the root was lower than that of n, then the suffix underwent metathesis (e.g. *likw-n(e)- → *li-n(e)-kw-) to satisfy syllable structure constraints related to the sonority sequencing principle and the syllable contact law. Therefore infixation only occurred with roots ending in an obstruent. From a typological point of view, both infixation originating from metathesis and metathesis caused by syllable structure constraints are probable phenomena (cf., respectively, Ultan 1975, and Vennemann 1988). On the other hand, the inadequacy of the traditional hypothesis, according to which PIE nasal infixation originated from the reanalysis of stems containing two suffixes (a nasal suffix followed by a second suffix or a “root extension”), has been well argued by Rasmussen (1990). The validity of the rule proposed here is proved by the fact that it is not possible to reconstruct infixed stems derived from roots ending in j, r, l, m or n. The non-existence of PIE *-ne-j-, *-ne-r-, *-ne-l-, *-ne-m- and *-ne-n- stems had remained unexplained until now (cf. Kuiper, 1934:85; partial and unsatisfactory attempts at explanation were given by Garcia Teijeiro [1970] and Rasmussen [1990]). Even those scholars who maintained the metathetical origin of PIE nasal infixation, amongst whom is Rasmussen (1990), were unable to identify the conditions for infixation to occur because of the erroneous assumption that roots ending in -w- could receive the infix: in fact, as the degree of sonority of w is not lower than that of n, roots ending in -w- could not receive the infix. The Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (Rix et al. 22001) contains only two reconstructed PIE *-ne-w- infixed stems with attested phonologically expected reflexes: *KL-ne-w- (Skt. śRnóti) and *gh2-ne-w- (Gr. gánumai). Both reconstructions are to be rejected. The nasal present stem of the root *Klew- was *Klunew-, and not *KLnew-, as is shown by the other historical reflexes of the same stem (Buddh. Skt. śrun°; Av. surunaoiti; Shughni çin°; OIr. MILIZIA 2 °cluinethar; Toch. A and B käln°). Skt. śRno-/śRnu- < *Klunew-/*Klunu- shows a loss of u analogous to the loss of i in tRtī́ya- ‘third’ < *trit(i)jo-. As for Gr. gánumai < *gh2new-, this verb is derived from a root *geh2-, not *geh2w- (cf. Gr. gános, *-n-es-/-os- nominal stem derived from the same root). * PIE *Klunew- and *gh2new- are not -ne- infixed but -new- suffixed stems . These arguments have remarkable implications for the origin of the suffix *-new-. According to Saussure (1879), the suffix *-new- originated from the reanalysis of -ne-w- infixed stems. Since stems of this type did not in fact exist, this hypothesis cannot be retained. Moreover this hypothesis is not able to explain a datum that has so far been neglected by scholars: whereas roots ending in a sonorant or glide represent only 15.65% of the total number of PIE reconstructed verbal roots, the -new- stems derived from a root ending in a sonorant or glide represent 57.69% of the total number of PIE reconstructed -new- stems (data from Rix et al., 22001). Therefore we must assume that *-new- attached originally only to roots endings in a sonorant or glide and subsequently spread to other roots. This spread partially, but not entirely, obfuscated the original distribution of the affixes. It seems likely that the original allomorphy, i.e. infixation/suffixation of *-ne- (*li-ne-kw- from *lejkw- / *Kli-ne- from *Klej-), was replaced by a new allomorphy between the infix *-ne- and a suffix *-new-. This suffix seems to be formed by adding the athematic present suffix *-w- (type 1e in Rix et al. 22001) to the nasal affix *-ne-. This can be viewed as an instance of templatic morphology, i.e. as a morphoprosodic process by means of which the CVC structure of the last syllable, which was characteristic of the infixed stems (e.g. .nekw. in *li.nekw-; cf. Skt. rinákti), was extended to the entire class of nasal present stems (e.g. .new. in *Kli.new-; cf. Av. -sirinaoiti). On the other hand, Saussure’s hypothesis about the origin of the suffix *-neh2-, according to which this suffix originated from *-ne-h2- infixed stems, can and must be retained. Moreover, the possibility of reconstructing infixed stems derived from set roots shows that the degree of sonority of laryngeal segments must have been lower than that of n. This is a decisive proof that PIE laryngeals were not vocalic (pace Reynolds et al. 2000), but fricative segments. * Other unacceptable reconstructions of *-ne-w- infixed stems are discussed in my doctoral dissertation Morfofonologia dell’infisso nasale indoeuropeo. Genesi e tipologia dell’infissazione; sopravvivenze in latino, in indoiranico, in ittito, in greco e in baltico, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2003 (unpublished), which I am now revising in order to publish a short monograph. MILIZIA 3 References Garcia Teijeiro, Manuel. 1970. Los presentes indoeuropeos con infijo nasal y su evolución. Salamanca. Kuiper, Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus. 1934. Die indogermanischen Nasalpräsentia. Amsterdam. Rasmussen, Jens E. 1990. ″Zur Abbauhierarchie des Nasalpräsens – vornemlich im Arischen und Griechischen.″ in Sprachwissenschaft und Philologie, Jakob Wackernagel und die Indogermanistik heute. Kolloquium der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 13. bis 15. Oktober 1988 in Basel. Ed. by H. Eichner and H. Rix. Wiesbaden. 188-201. Reynolds, Elinor et al. 2000. ″Proto-Indo-European laryngeals were vocalic″ Diachronica 17: 351-387. Rix, Helmut et al. 22001. Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben. Zweite, erweiterte und verbesserte Auflage. Wiesbaden. Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1879. Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo- européennes. Leipzig. Ultan, Russell. 1975. ″Infixes and their Origins.″ in Linguistic Workshop III. Ed. by Hansjakob Seiler. München. 157-205. Vennemann, Theo. 1988. Preference Laws for Syllable Structure. Berlin. .
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