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Pre-Indo-European
- GenresLinguistics
287 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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16 people want to read
About the author
Winfred P. Lehmann
33 books2 followersWinfred P. Lehmann, historical linguist, served as the director of the Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin. Master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1938 and his Ph.D. from the same institution in 1941. He began teaching at UT-Austin in 1949 and has been professor emeritus since 1986.
An important contribution was his Proto-Indo-European Syntax, the first and one of the few existing treatments of Proto-Indo-European syntax in a generative framework.
In 1979 he published an updated version of Schleicher's fable together with Ladislav Zgusta.
An important contribution was his Proto-Indo-European Syntax, the first and one of the few existing treatments of Proto-Indo-European syntax in a generative framework.
In 1979 he published an updated version of Schleicher's fable together with Ladislav Zgusta.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 9, 2007
Over the last two hundred years the comparative method has allowed historical linguists to reconstruct the ancestral language common to many of the languages of Europe and western Asia. Now that we already have a clear picture of Proto-Indo-European, we can reach an even earlier stage through internal reconstruction. In PRE-INDO-EUROPEAN, well-respected linguist Winfred Lehmann gives the first book-length study of this pre-proto-language.
The first part of the work is mainly a discussion of how internal reconstruction can build on what the comparative method has already provided. The first characteristic attributed to Pre-Indo-European is that it was an active (active/stative) language, and Lehmann tracks the development of this discovery. The lexicon is then examined in the new light of the pre-proto-language's typological configuration. Lehmann is known for his deep interest in the syntax of Proto-Indo-European, so as expected there is thought-provoking coverage of Pre-Indo-European's syntax and the role of particles. The morphology of Pre-IE is divided into derivational and inflectional. Finally, the view of Pre-IE is completed with a discussion of its phonology. As an addendum, Lehmann muses about the culture of the speakers of Pre-Indo-European, where he disagrees with Calvert Watkins on the feasibility of reconstructing proto-poetics, and the relationship of Pre-IE to other language families.
Lehmann does an excellent job of pulling in examples from Hittite, a language which still does not get the attention it deserves. In Lehmann's reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary, the three laryngeals are not reconstructed as the anonymous Hx, but rather are specific phonemes (H1 is a glottal stop, for example). This is an admirable step forward, as with the death of Szemerenyi laryngeal theory no longer has opposition and it's about time scholars decided the exact nature of each laryngeal.
My main complaint about Lehmann's work, however, is that much of it has already been presented in his fine primer THEORETICAL BASES OF INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTICS. Lehmann's original attempt here is to treat the pre-proto-language on its own. This isn't even acheived entirely, since before presenting the phonology of Pre-IE Lehmann believes it necessary to first talk about several opinions on the phonology of PIE. The work is also typeset unattractively and the Greek examples are all transliterated. As a result, I would say that PRE-INDO-EUROPEAN is a worthwhile read, and it does include some new insights. However, I don't thing this somewhat repetitive work will become a key text for new students in the field.
The first part of the work is mainly a discussion of how internal reconstruction can build on what the comparative method has already provided. The first characteristic attributed to Pre-Indo-European is that it was an active (active/stative) language, and Lehmann tracks the development of this discovery. The lexicon is then examined in the new light of the pre-proto-language's typological configuration. Lehmann is known for his deep interest in the syntax of Proto-Indo-European, so as expected there is thought-provoking coverage of Pre-Indo-European's syntax and the role of particles. The morphology of Pre-IE is divided into derivational and inflectional. Finally, the view of Pre-IE is completed with a discussion of its phonology. As an addendum, Lehmann muses about the culture of the speakers of Pre-Indo-European, where he disagrees with Calvert Watkins on the feasibility of reconstructing proto-poetics, and the relationship of Pre-IE to other language families.
Lehmann does an excellent job of pulling in examples from Hittite, a language which still does not get the attention it deserves. In Lehmann's reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary, the three laryngeals are not reconstructed as the anonymous Hx, but rather are specific phonemes (H1 is a glottal stop, for example). This is an admirable step forward, as with the death of Szemerenyi laryngeal theory no longer has opposition and it's about time scholars decided the exact nature of each laryngeal.
My main complaint about Lehmann's work, however, is that much of it has already been presented in his fine primer THEORETICAL BASES OF INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTICS. Lehmann's original attempt here is to treat the pre-proto-language on its own. This isn't even acheived entirely, since before presenting the phonology of Pre-IE Lehmann believes it necessary to first talk about several opinions on the phonology of PIE. The work is also typeset unattractively and the Greek examples are all transliterated. As a result, I would say that PRE-INDO-EUROPEAN is a worthwhile read, and it does include some new insights. However, I don't thing this somewhat repetitive work will become a key text for new students in the field.
Displaying 1 of 1 review