Layman question

From: Gabriela Chiribau
Message: 36668
Date: 2005-03-08

Greetings,
 
Please, can you recommend an introductory book that explains the "notation" used in this message?
 
(<
*o-grade).  Long vowel verbs pattern with the e-verbs (*i:?,
*u:) or with a-verbs (*e:, *o:). 

e1 *ei (*i:)      a1 *ai (*e:)
e2 *eu (*u:)      a2 *au (*o:)
e3 *eRC           a3 *aRC
e4 *eR            a4 *aR
e5 *eC            a5 *aC

Also, a learning-path style list of books would be really appreciated!

Thank you,
 
Gabriela

Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:
If we assume that the dichotomy between mi- and
hi-conjugation in Hittite was inherited from the
proto-language, that allows an elegant solution to the
distribution of Germanic strong preterites.

Mi-verbs generally had e-grade of the root in the present
singular, zero grade in the plural (mobile stress).
Hi-verbs generally had o-grade in the singular, e-grade in
the plural (acrostatic stress).

In Germanic, we have two categories of strong verbs: verbs
with e-grade of the root, and verbs with a-grade (<
*o-grade).  Long vowel verbs pattern with the e-verbs (*i:?,
*u:) or with a-verbs (*e:, *o:).  Germanic e-verbs behave as
if heirs to the mi-conjugation, a-verbs behave as if heirs
to the hi-conjugation.

It is customary to split the e- and a-verbs up into five
classes, according to the root vocalism:

e1 *ei (*i:)      a1 *ai (*e:)
e2 *eu (*u:)      a2 *au (*o:)
e3 *eRC           a3 *aRC
e4 *eR            a4 *aR
e5 *eC            a5 *aC

The imperfect and aorist were lost as preterite tenses in
Germanic, leaving the perfect and the Germanic dental
preterite ("weak preterite").

Strong e-grade verbs make their preterite (prefect) by
changing the generalized (bacause thematic or thematized)
e-vocalism of the present into sg. /o/ > /a/, pl. zero, so
the verbal forms are:

I.   *ei      *oi     *i       *i
     sti:ga - staig - stigum - stigans
II.  *eu      *ou     *u       *u
     biuda  - bau�  - budum  - budans
III. *eNC     *oNC    *N.C     *N.C
     binda  - band  - bundum - bundans

Classes IV and V are special:
IV.  *eR    *oR   *e:R     *R.
     nima - nam - ne:mum - numans
V.   *eC    *oC   *e:C     *eC
     giba - gaf - ge:bum - gibans

In Gothic, the a-verbs go as follows:

I.   *oi     
     haita - hehait - hehaitum - haitans
II.  *ou
     auka  - eauk   - eaukum   - aukans
III. *oNC
     fal�a - fefal� - fefal�um - fal�ans

Again, classes a-IV and a-V (= class VI) are special:

IV.  *oR     *o:R    *o:R      *oR
     fara  - fo:r  - fo:rum  - farans
V.   *oC     *o:C    *o:C      *oC
     slaha - slo:h - slo:hum - slahans

The e:- and o:-verbs:

e:(1)  sle:pa  sesle:p sesle:pum sle:pans
e:(2)  le:ta   lelo:t  lelo:tum  le:tans
[The difference is between original *e: (originally
ablauting with zero, as in Angl. leorton < *le-lt-), and
*-eh1-, originally a normal e-verb with Ablaut *e ~ *o,
later incorporated into the reduplicating group.]

o:     flo:kan feflo:k feflo:kum flo:kans

As can be seen, Ablaut plays a minor role, and the
difference between present stem and preterite stem is mainly
expressed by reduplication.

In the other Germanic languages, the a-verbs follow a
different pattern:

I.   *oi/*e:   *ei
     haitan  - he:2t  - he2:tum  - gihaitan
     sl�:pa  - sle:2p - sle:2pum - gisl�:pan
    (l�:ta   - le:2t  - le:2tum  - gil�:tan)
(As van Coetsem has shown, *e:2 reflects PIE *ei with
a-Umlaut: PIE *ei, *eu split into *ee > *e:2, *eo [a-umlaut]
vs. *ii > *i:, *iu [i-umlaut]).

II.  *ou/*o:   *eu
     hlaupan - hleop  - hleopum  - gihlaupan
     flo:kan - fleok  - fleokum  - giflo:kan

III. *oNC      *eNC
     fal�an  - fel�   - fel�um   - gifal�an

IV.  *oR       *o:R   
     faran  -  fo:r  - fo:rum  - gifaran

V.   *oC       *o:C   
     slahan -  slo:h - slo:hum - gislahan

If we depart from a PIE paradigm with *o ~ *e Ablaut in the
hi-conjugation past, it is clear that the North-West
Germanic forms in the preterite (A1..A3) have generalized
the hi-conjugation plural (and, in NW Gmc. also the 2sg.)
with *e-grade of the root. 

Diachronically, the mi-conjugation verbs have all become
thematic, with e-grade of the root in the present (sg. and
pl.).  The preterite is based on the perfect (i.e. the
hi-conjugation present), with Ablaut *o ~ *0 and apparently
no reduplication.

The hi-conjugation verbs split into two groups: the
"praeterito-praesentia", which have perfect endings in the
present (*oi: wait "I know"; *ou: daug "it's OK"; *oRC: kann
"I know"; *OR skal: "I must", mag "I can"; *o:: o:g "I
fear"), with or without Ablaut (*o ~ 0) in the plural
(witum, kunnum, skulum / magum, o:gum), and making a weak
preterite. 

The larger group became thematic (presumably because of 3sg.
*-e), and have persistent o-grade (> -a-) in the present.
The hi-preterite had o-grade in the sg., e-grade in the
plural, with the former generalized in Gothic, the latter in
North and West Germanic.  Reduplication was apparently
optional, generalized as a preterite marker in Gothic (where
the Ablaut of present and preterite didn't differ), and lost
in N. and W. Germanic (except for isolated cases like ON
sera < *se-so:-).

That leaves the problem of -e:- in the preterite pl. of
e-verbs of the structure *-eC- (*-eR-), and -o:- in the
whole preterite of o-verbs of the same structure.
The -e:- or -o:- do not appear in praeterito-presents
(skulum, magum), so we may assume it's a thing peculiar to
the preterite.  As I suggested earlier, roots of the
structure *-eC- (*-eR-) were prone to retain the aoristic
3rd. person marker *-s (Hitt. gane:szi, Vedic verbs in -a:,
-aC), which led to a category of "s-aorists" based on (1)
active aorists (*g^ne:h3-s-) or on (2) hi-conjugation
aorists (the classical s-aorist).  If such categories also
existed in pre-Germanic, the lengthened vocalism caused by
*-s might have been retained in the preterite of verbs
ending in a single consonant (although the s-forms
themselves were apparently lost).  Mi-conjugation aorists
had generalized e:-grade to the plural (ne:mum, etc.).
Hi-conjugation verbs must have had -o:- in the singular
(*-oC-s > *-o:C-s), -e:- in the plural.  Germanic
generalized o: (faran, fo:r, fo:rum), while elsewhere we
generally find -e:- (OCS 1.sg. n�sU).

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...


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