The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic


Book Description

This book is a comprehensive study of the Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic. It includes an investigation of all Germanic words that were borrowed into Proto-Slavic until its disintegration in the early ninth century. Research into the phonology, morphology and semantics of the loanwords serves as the basis of an investigation into the Germanic donor languages of the individual loanwords. The loanwords can be shown to be mainly of Gothic, High German and Low German origin. One of the aims of the present study is to clarify the accentuation of Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic and to explain how they were adapted to the Proto-Slavic accentual system. This volume is of special interest to scholars and students of Slavic and Germanic historical linguistics, contact linguistics and Slavic accentology. Saskia Pronk-Tiethoff’s research focuses on Slavic historical linguistics and language contact between Slavic and Germanic. She studied Slavic languages and cultures and Comparative Indo-European linguistics at Leiden University, where she also obtained her doctoral degree. She currently lives in Zagreb, where she contributed to the Croatian-Dutch dictionary (Institute for Croatian Language and Linguistics), and now contributes to the Croatian Church Slavic dictionary (Old Church Slavonic Institute).







Proto-Slavic Inflectional Morphology


Book Description

Proto-Slavic, the reconstructed ancestor of the Slavic languages, presents a rich inflectional system inherited from Proto-Indo-European. In this handbook all the inflectional endings of Proto-Slavic are traced back to Proto-Indo-European through a systematic comparison with the corresponding forms in related languages. Applying a redefinition of Proto-Slavic based on prehistoric loanword relations with neighbouring non-Slavic languages, Thomas Olander provides a new look at the Proto-Slavic inflectional system. The systematic, coherent and exhaustive approach laid out in the handbook paves the way for new solutions to long-standing problems of Slavic historical grammar.




A History of East Baltic through Language Contact


Book Description

The East Baltic languages are well known for their conservative phonology as compared to other Indo-European languages, which has led to a stereotype that the Balts developed in isolation without much contact with other speech communities. This book challenges that view, taking a deep dive into the East Baltic lexicon and peeling away the layers of prehistoric borrowings in the process. As well as significant contact events with known languages, the lexicon also reveals evidence of contact with unattested languages from which previous populations must have shifted.




The Indo-European Puzzle Revisited


Book Description

The Indo-European dispersal inalterably shaped the Eurasian linguistic landscape. This book offers the newest insights into this dramatic prehistoric event.







From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic


Book Description

This book describes the earliest reconstructable stages of the prehistory of English. It outlines the grammar of Proto-Indo-European, considers the changes by which one dialect of that prehistoric language developed into Proto-Germanic, and provides a detailed account of the grammar of Proto-Germanic. The focus throughout the book is on linguistic structure. In the course of his exposition Professor Ringe draws on a long tradition of work on many languages, including Hittite,Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Slavic, Gothic, and Old Norse. Written to be intelligible to those with a background in modern linguistic theory, the first volume in Don Ringe's A Linguistic History of English will be of central interest to all scholars and students of comparative Indo-European and Germaniclinguistics, the history of English, and historical linguists.The next volume in the History will consider the development of Proto-Germanic into Old English. Subsequent volumes will describe the attested history of English from the Anglo-Saxon era to the present.




Slavic Nominal Word-formation


Book Description

This is the first comprehensive monograph on Slavic nominal word-formation in English. It is a diachronic study of word-formation patterns in Proto-Slavic and their derivation from Proto-Indo-European. All conclusions about the origin of individual nominal suffixes, prefixes and compounding patterns are drawn from the reconstructed Proto-Slavic nominal lexicon. In this way, those word-formation patterns that can be attributed to Proto-Slavic can be distinguished from those that became productive independently in individual Slavic languages. The book contains a discussion of the meaning of Proto-Slavic nominal suffixes and prefixes, their origin and possible Proto-Indo-European sources, as well as an analysis of the accentual patterns associated with them. It also discusses in general outlines the productivity and development of individual nominal suffixes and prefixes in later stages of Slavic, including the major modern languages.







Comparative Indo-European Linguistics


Book Description

This book gives a comprehensive introduction to Comparative Indo-European Linguistics. It starts with a presentation of the languages of the family (from English and the other Germanic languages, the Celtic and Slavic languages, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit through Armenian and Albanian) and a discussion of the culture and origin of the Indo-Europeans, the speakers of the Indo-European proto-language.The reader is introduced into the nature of language change and the methods of reconstruction of older language stages, with many examples (from the Indo-European languages). A full description is given of the sound changes, which makes it possible to follow the origin of the different Indo-European languages step by step. This is followed by a discussion of the development of all the morphological categories of Proto-Indo-European. The book presents the latest in scholarly insights, like the laryngeal and glottalic theory, the accentuation, the ablaut patterns, and these are systematically integrated into the treatment. The text of this second edition has been corrected and updated by Michiel de Vaan. Sixty-six new exercises enable the student to practice the reconstruction of PIE phonology and morphology.