Tobias Scheer CNRS 6039, Université de Nice [email protected]

7ès rencontres du Réseau Français de Phonologie Aix-en-Provence 2-4 juin 2005

this handout and more stuff at www.unice.fr/dsl/tobias.htm

ABLAUT'S NASTY NEIGHBOUR: LARYNGEALS1 (1)

purpose a. on the grounds of the Germanic evidence, to show that the distribution of the three markers that IE used in order to express aspect/ tense a. Ablaut (by which I refer only to qualitative Ablaut) b. quantity (i.e. quantitative Ablaut) c. reduplication is not random. Rather, it depends on the root vowel of each verb. b. interpreting the result in the light of Saussure's Laryngeal theory reveals that verbs with IE e that regularly select Ablaut reduplicate if followed by a Laryngeal. ==> Laryngeals block Ablaut. c. this is a well-known property of gutturals in Semitic, where Ablaut is inhibited in the presence of a guttural neighbour. Hence Laryngeals deserve their name: their oft-disputed phonetic value is indeed guttural.

I. Regular reconstruction of the IE vocalism of Germanic strong verbs (2)

Ablaut: classes I-V

class I

root vowel a

IE

germ

ej

ii

ahg mhg ii

b II

a

ew

eu

io

b III

a

e

b

1 2

mhg Ablautreihe 2 (pres-pret-part)

examples (mhg) right context

ii

ii-ei-i

grîfen

ii

ii-ee-i

dîhen

ie

ie-ou-o

biegen

ie

ie-oo-o

bieten

__j __w

i

i

i

i-a-u

binden

__NC, __NN

ë

ë

ë

ë-a-o

hëlfen

__LC

IV

e

ë

ë

ë

ë-a-o

nëmen

__N, __L

V

e

ë

ë

ë

ë-a-ë

gëben

__C

A written version has been published as Scheer (1997). The fourth Ablaut grade that appears in mhg pret pl is irrelevant here and hence left unmentioned.

-2(3)

Quantity: class VI

class

root vowel IE

VI

3

o,a

germ a

ahg mhg a

a

mhg Ablautreihe (pres-pret-part)

example (mhg)

a-uo-a

graben

(4)

Reduplication: class VII a. in Germanic, reduplication is only attested in Gothic. In other dialects its function has been taken over by Ablaut. However, reduplicating verbs may be identified in Ahg since they show a peculiar Ablaut series that has not merged with any genetically primitve series. [literature on Germanic reduplication: Bech (1969,1971), Fulk (1987), Lüdtke (1957), Höfler (1970), Coetsem (1990)] b. examples (Braune & Eggers 1987:285f) class inf 1sg pres 1sg pret 1pl pret part RIa halt-an halt-u hialt hialt-um gi-halt-an RIb rāt-an rāt-u riat riat-um gi-rāt-an RIc heiZ-an heiZ-u hiaZ hiaZ-um gi-heiZ-an c. cf. Gothic hait-a haí-hait

(5)

classification of formerly reduplicating verbs in Ahg by Braune & Eggers (1987:285f) [testimony for verbs in brackets is scarce, and all forms are not recorded. Braune & Eggers (1987:287) mention them with this provision only] classification members nb class vowel right ahg context 15 RI a a __LL fallan, wallan __NN bannan, spannan __LC haltan, walkan, scaltan, spaltan, waltan, salzan, walzan 4 __NC blantan, gangan, fāhan ( affinity between e and Ablaut hence why doesn't long ē select Ablaut ?

(10) extrapolation of the distribution in the light of the Laryngeal theory Quantity Ablaut

e

o Reduplication a

eR

oR

eH3

eH1

aR

eH2

(11) given the affinity of IE e and Ablaut, it appears that

all and only those IE e that are followed by a Laryngeal do not ablaut ==> Laryngeals inhibit Ablaut of the preceding vowel (12) Ablaut in Classical Arabic [e.g. Guerssel & Lowenstamm (1996)] series root pf ipf a-u ktb katab-a ya-ktub-u a-i Drb Darab-a ya-Drib-u i-a lbs labis-a ya-lbas-u u-u kbr kabur-a ya-kbur-u

gloss to write to beat to dress to grow

-5(13) Classical Arabic Ablaut is inhibited by adjacent gutturals gutturals = [X, ʁ, ħ, ʕ, h, ʔ] [e.g. Guerssel (2003)] series C2=gutt C3=gutt root pf ipf ʔ a-a sʔl ya-sʔaal-u saʔal-a h mhl mahal-a ya-mhal-u ʕ l fa al-a ya-fʕal-u fʕ ʕ šXl X šaXal-a ya-šXal-u ʁ DʁT DaʁaT-a ya-DʁaT-u ħ mdħ madaħ-a ya-mdaħ-u ʕ qlʕ qalaʕ-a ya-qlaʕ-u ʔ qrʔ qaraʔ-a ya-qraʔ-u ʕ i-i nʕm naʕiim-a ya-nʕiim-u

gloss to ask to be slow to do to filter to press to worship to pull out to read to prosper

(14) conclusion a. gutturals kill Ablaut both in IE and Classical Arabic b. this result is achieved on the grounds of Germanic only. It needs to be confronted to the other IE dialect which has preserved a consistent ablauting (verbal) system, i.e. Greek. Disturbance of ablauting patterns in presence of Laryngeals has also been reported here. c. a Nostratic interpretation is possible, but not necessary: Ablaut theory developed by Guerssel & Lowenstamm (1996), Ségéral & Scheer (1998), Ségéral (1995,1996,2000), Bendjaballah (1998,1999) and others holds that Ablaut is a mechanism that is universally available for the expression of grammatical contrasts. That is, all ablauting systems follow the same regularity ø → i → a → u → u. On this assumption, the mechanism at hand, for a reason to be discovered, breaks down in presence of gutturals, and this is true for universally. Hence Nostratic has no incidence. d. the oft-disputed phonetic value of Laryngeals follows: they were gutturals - hence deserve their name. Literature References followed by WEB can be downloaded at www.unice.fr/dsl/tobias.htm.

Bech, Gunnar 1969. Das germanische reduplizierte Präteritum. Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 44.1, 1-54. Bech, Gunnar 1971. Reduplikation und Innovation.Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 44.5, 6173. Bendjaballah, Sabrina 1998. Aspects apophoniques de la vocalisation du verbe berbère (kabyle). Langues et Grammaire II-III, Phonologie, edited by Sauzet Patrick, 5-24. Paris: Université Paris 8. Bendjaballah, Sabrina 1999. Trois figures de la structure interne des gabarits. Thèse de doctorat. Université Paris 7. Braune, Wilhelm & Hans Eggers 1987. Althochdeutsche Grammatik. 14th edition Tübingen: Niemeyer. Coetsem, Frans van 1990. Ablaut and Reduplication in the Germanic Verb. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. Fulk, R. D. 1987. Reduplicating verbs and their development in Northwest Germanic. Bgdsl

-6109, 159-178. Guerssel, Mohand 2003. Why Arabic guttural assimilation is not a phonological process. Living on the Edge. 28 papers in honour of Jonathan Kaye, edited by Stefan Ploch, 581-598. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Guerssel, Mohand & Jean Lowenstamm 1996. Ablaut in Classical Arabic measure I active verbal forms. Studies in Afro-Asiatic Grammar, edited by J. Lecarme, J. Lowenstamm & U. Shlonsky, 123-134. La Hague: Holland Academic Graphics. WEB. Höfler, Otto 1970. Die germanischen reduplizierenden Verba im Lichte der Entfaltungstheorie. Folia Linguistica 4, 110-120. Lüdtke, Helmut 1957. Der Ursprung des germanischen e2 und die Reduplikationsprä-terita. Phonetica 1, 157-183. Scheer, Tobias 1997. Des Ablauts gemeiner Gegner: Laryngale. Dhumbadji! 3, 15-31. WEB. Ségéral, Philippe 1995. Une théorie généralisée de l'apophonie. Ph.D dissertation, Université de Paris 7. Ségéral, Philippe 1996. L'apophonie en ge'ez. Studies in Afroasiatic Grammar, edited by Jacqueline Lecarme, Jean Lowenstamm & Ur Shlonsky, 360-391. La Hague: Holland Academic Graphics. WEB. Ségéral, Philippe 2000. Théorie de l'apophonie et organisation des schèmes en sémitique. Research in Afroasiatic Grammar, edited by Jacqueline Lecarme, Jean Lowenstamm & Ur Shlonsky, 263-299. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins. WEB. Ségéral, Philippe & Tobias Scheer 1998. A Generalized Theory of Ablaut: the Case of Modern German Strong Verbs. Models of Inflection, edited by Albert Ortmann, Ray Fabri & Teresa Parodi, 28-59. Tübingen: Niemeyer. WEB.