Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and Luwian

Three branches of Indo-European ­—Luwian, Armenian, and East Iranian (Khotanese) Saka— seem have undergone asssibilation of PIE palatal-prevelar stops before [w], a development contrasting with the general outcome of these stops in Armenian and Saka, and with their apparent outcome before [- front]...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hans Henrich Hock
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UPV/EHU Press 2025-01-01
Series:Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo"
Online Access:https://ojs.ehu.eus/index.php/ASJU/article/view/25961
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832576306504531968
author Hans Henrich Hock
author_facet Hans Henrich Hock
author_sort Hans Henrich Hock
collection DOAJ
description Three branches of Indo-European ­—Luwian, Armenian, and East Iranian (Khotanese) Saka— seem have undergone asssibilation of PIE palatal-prevelar stops before [w], a development contrasting with the general outcome of these stops in Armenian and Saka, and with their apparent outcome before [- front] vocalic segments in Luwian. So far, no principled phonetic or phonological explanations for this behavior have been proposed. I show that the developments in Saka and Armenican can be accounted for in terms of a crosslinguistic tendency for the high-vocalic labiovelar glide w, whether full segment w or nonsegmental offglide w, to assimilate to a following y or front vowel by becoming labiopalatal segmental ɥ or offglide ɥ, which following a common trend is unrounded to y or y and then palatalizes and assibilates the preceding stop. This account is not applicable to Luwian for which a general assimilation of palatal-prevelar before non-low vowels seems the best solution. The similarity between Armenian and Saka on one hand and Luwian on the other, thus, is accidental, and we must conclude that similar outcomes can be produced by very different historical developments.
format Article
id doaj-art-df943188c2344b278ab784b0d8244e4b
institution Kabale University
issn 0582-6152
2444-2992
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher UPV/EHU Press
record_format Article
series Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo"
spelling doaj-art-df943188c2344b278ab784b0d8244e4b2025-01-31T08:28:39ZengUPV/EHU PressAnuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo"0582-61522444-29922025-01-0157(1-2)10.1387/asju.25961Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and LuwianHans Henrich Hock0University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Three branches of Indo-European ­—Luwian, Armenian, and East Iranian (Khotanese) Saka— seem have undergone asssibilation of PIE palatal-prevelar stops before [w], a development contrasting with the general outcome of these stops in Armenian and Saka, and with their apparent outcome before [- front] vocalic segments in Luwian. So far, no principled phonetic or phonological explanations for this behavior have been proposed. I show that the developments in Saka and Armenican can be accounted for in terms of a crosslinguistic tendency for the high-vocalic labiovelar glide w, whether full segment w or nonsegmental offglide w, to assimilate to a following y or front vowel by becoming labiopalatal segmental ɥ or offglide ɥ, which following a common trend is unrounded to y or y and then palatalizes and assibilates the preceding stop. This account is not applicable to Luwian for which a general assimilation of palatal-prevelar before non-low vowels seems the best solution. The similarity between Armenian and Saka on one hand and Luwian on the other, thus, is accidental, and we must conclude that similar outcomes can be produced by very different historical developments. https://ojs.ehu.eus/index.php/ASJU/article/view/25961
spellingShingle Hans Henrich Hock
Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and Luwian
Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo"
title Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and Luwian
title_full Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and Luwian
title_fullStr Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and Luwian
title_full_unstemmed Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and Luwian
title_short Palatal assibilation before [w]? The case of Armenian, Saka, and Luwian
title_sort palatal assibilation before w the case of armenian saka and luwian
url https://ojs.ehu.eus/index.php/ASJU/article/view/25961
work_keys_str_mv AT hanshenrichhock palatalassibilationbeforewthecaseofarmeniansakaandluwian