EVIDENCE FROM INNOVATION: RECONSTRUCTING DISHARMONIC HEADEDNESS FOR PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Ryan Darrell Windhearn (Hearn) August 2020 © 2020 Ryan Darrell Windhearn ALL RIGHTS RESERVED EVIDENCE FROM INNOVATION: RECONSTRUCTING DISHARMONIC HEADEDNESS FOR PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN Ryan Darrell Windhearn (Hearn), Ph.D. Cornell University 2020 In this dissertation, I show that due to the unique hierarchical properties of syntactic features, innovation can reveal inherited structural relationships that would otherwise remain opaque. Based on this idea, I propose a disharmoni- cally headed reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) clausal syntax; specif- ically, I argue that PIE was left-headed in the CP domain and right-headed in the TP domain, and provide additional evidence that PIE was right-headed within VP as well. The novelty of my approach compared to those of my pre- decessors is looking at the various auxiliary constructions innovated across the Indo-European (IE) daughter languages instead of focusing exclusively on re- constructible lexical verbs. This approach allows me to more accurately triangu- late the location of inflection in the syntax relative to the lower verbal domain, which gives me more accurate information about the featural makeup of the functional heads of these languages and improves my resulting reconstruction. To strengthen my conclusions, I provide extensive auxiliary data from cor- pora of six of the earliest attested Indo-European languages: Hittite, Tocharian, Vedic Sanskrit, Homeric Greek, Old Latin, and Gothic. For each language, I categorize all word order variations seen in the auxiliary constructions, demon- strate that clauses ending with a verbal element (usually a participle) followed immediately by the auxiliary is by far the most common order attested, and show that in each of these languages these facts are most readily explained with a left-headed CP, right-headed TP analysis. I then provide all examples of auxil- iary constructions from my corpora showing any other word order, and demon- strate that this word order variation is most straightforwardly derivable from an underlying right-headed TP structure. This project illustrates just how valuable and robust feature-based syntac- tic reconstruction can be. As Kim (2018) states, it is currently assumed that the innovations useful for subgrouping "may be phonological, morphological, or lexical". This project and others like it can help show the value of syntactic isoglosses for subgrouping purposes as well, and can even take the original idea a step further, showing that in some cases we can reconstruct syntactic informa- tion where we cannot reconstruct corresponding phonological or morphological information. This means that not only can we now subgroup based on inher- ited syntactic constructions, but also based on the syntactic features gleaned from constructions independently innovated in the daughter languages. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ryan Hearn was born in 1985 in Thomaston, GA. He graduated Star Student from Monroe Academy in Forsyth, GA in 2003, and went on to attend Fur- man University where he graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Accounting in 2007. During his time in undergrad he began studying Japanese for fun, not knowing at the time that this would eventually lead him to a lifetime of language study. After graduation, he spent a year in Kahoku, Japan, teaching English in local elementary and middle schools before moving back to the States and getting a job as an accountant and Japanese translator at YKK AP America in Dublin, GA. During these five years, in addition to his regular responsibilities, Ryan or- ganized language and culture courses both for Japanese management expats wanting to learn English and for local coworkers wanting to better commu- nicate with their Japanese counterparts. In early 2013, while teaching himself Latin in his downtime, as one does, he discovered the study of historical lin- guistics and applied to the Linguistics Masters program at the University of Georgia, having never studied linguistics in his life and with very little idea of what the discipline entailed. Miraculously, he was accepted into the program, and two years later he graduated with a Masters degree in Linguistics, having picked up a love of syn- tax and morphophonology along the way. In 2015 he entered the Linguistics PhD program at Cornell University, where his research broadly focused on the diachronic/synchronic interface, exploring how modern synchronic linguistic methods could better inform diachronic analyses and vice versa. Specifically, he worked on historical syntactic reconstruction and also explored morpho- phonemic alternations in diachronic lexical strata, and presented his work at iii distinguished international conferences like the Manchester Phonology Meet- ing, Diachronic Generative Syntax, Linguistic Society of America, and both the East and West Coast Indo-European Conferences along the way. His syntac- tic reconstruction work culminated in his dissertation, which examines inno- vated auxiliary constructions across the earliest-attested Indo-European daugh- ter languages to argue for a disharmonically headed reconstruction of Proto- Indo-European clausal syntax. During his time at Cornell, Ryan also had the good fortune to work with Marvel Entertainment on the summer blockbuster Captain Marvel, designing the Torfan language alongside his colleague Joseph Rhyne. iv This work is dedicated to: my mom, who taught me that I could do anything I set my mind to, my dad, who taught me the perseverance and hard work necessary to achieve the goals I set for myself, and my wife, who supported and encouraged me every step of the way. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As much as a dissertation reflects the work of its author, it also represents the cumulative efforts of the many people who aided along the way, from the advi- sors and peers who contributed directly to the project, to the prior researchers on whose shoulders we stand, and also to the author’s social support groups, the friends and family who lend the strength needed to finish such a monumen- tal task. It is my honor here to acknowledge those who accompanied me in this journey, without whose help this dissertation (and its author) would certainly be in much poorer shape. So, a huge thank you... To my committee members, without whom this project would have been dead in the water: To John Whitman, who not only kept my analyses fully grounded in syn- tactic theory, but also gave me far more insight into what was going on "under the hood" of these languages than I could have achieved myself due to his en- cyclopedic knowledge of typology. John always took the time to answer my endless questions, gave me pages and pages of detailed feedback on my drafts, and spent hours in his office with me teasing apart mind-bending examples of Tocharian and Latin word order. John has been an integral part of every re- search project I’ve been involved with at Cornell, serving on the committees of both of my qualifying papers in addition to my dissertation. Whatever con- tribution this project has to make to the study of diachronic syntax would be greatly diminished if not for the influence and direction of John Whitman. To Michael Weiss, who constantly saw connections, generalizations, par- allels, and exceptions within and across these old Indo-European languages vi due to his enviable mastery of this sprawling, complicated language family. Michael’s knowledge of not only the morphology and syntax of these lan- guages, but also domains like meter and even textual transmission, on multiple occasions provided explanations for data I had all but given up on. Michael was constantly sending me relevant papers that he came across for all six of the branches I was dealing with (and more!), ensuring that this project was as grounded in the literature as it could be, in addition to all of the meetings in his office ensuring that the quality of my data stayed high. Michael has also been involved in every research project I’ve worked on at Cornell, serving on both of my qualifying paper committees in addition to my dissertation, and has made me feel like a valued colleague, inviting me to his house on multiple occa- sions for some fantastic historical linguistics shindigs. Again, the contribution this project makes to our understanding of Indo-European is heavily indebted to Michael Weiss, who made sure this was as much a project of Indo-European scholarship as it was a project of diachronic syntactic theory. To Miloje Despic, who taught me the importance of keeping in mind the implications of my analyses relative to my theoretical assumptions, and who was not only quick to point out where those assumptions made undesirable predictions, but was also always ready with multiple potential solutions to my many theoretical problems. Miloje and Michael both helped me keep falsifia- bility front and center when analyzing my data, so that my conclusions would stand up to scrutiny. To the other faculty and staff at Cornell and elsewhere who have contributed to this project directly, served on my past committees, or have given me support and advice during my tenure as a grad student: vii To Craig Melchert, with whom I spent a fun evening last year in Philadelphia discussing my Hittite data in detail. Craig gave me valuable insight into the intricacies of Anatolian syntax, and later sent me an email that not only included some rare examples of exceptional Hittite syntax, but also contained his own pragmatic analysis of the data. To Moses Katz, who provided me with his Gothic auxiliary corpus, and who was always available as a sounding board for my ideas about early Germanic syntax. Moses is also one of my closest friends, having served as the officiant at my wedding, and I look forward to many more late-night conversations with him about life, philosophy, linguistics, and Star Wars.