Proto-Indo-Iranian Language - Historical Phonology

Historical Phonology

The most distinctive phonological change separating Proto-Indo-Iranian from Proto-Indo-European is the collapse of the ablauting vowels *e, *o, *a into a single vowel, Proto-Indo-Iranian *a (but see Brugmann's law). Grassmann's law, Bartholomae's law, and the Ruki sound law were also complete in Proto-Indo-Iranian.

A fuller list of some of the hypothesized sound changes from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Indo-Iranian follows:

  • The Satem shift, consisting of two sets of related changes. The PIE palatals *k̂ *ĝ *ĝʰ are fronted or affricated, eventually resulting in PII *ĉ, *ĵ, *ĵʰ, while the PIE labiovelars *kʷ *gʷ *gʷʰ merge with the velars *k *g *gʰ.
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin
*k̂m̥tóm *ĉatám śatám satəm centum "hundred"
*ĝónu *ĵā́nu jā́nu zānu genu "knee"
*ĝʰéi-mn̥ *ĵʰimá- himá- zima- hiems "winter" / "snow"
*kʷó- *ká- ká- kō quis "who?, what?"
*gʷou- *gau- go gau- bos, bovis "cow"
*gʷʰormó- *gʰarmá- gharmá- garəma- formus "warmth, heat"
  • The PIE syllabic liquids *l̥, *r̥ merge as *r̥.
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin
*wĺ̥kʷo- *wŕ̥ka- *vŕ̥ka- vəhrka- lupus "wolf"
  • The PIE syllabic nasals *m̥ *n̥ merge with *a.
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin
*k̂m̥tóm *ĉatám śatám satəm centum "hundred"
*mn̥tó- *matá matá- mens, mentis "thinking"
  • Bartholomae's law: an aspirate immediately followed by a voiceless consonant becomes voiced stop + voiced aspirate. In addition, dʰ + t > dzdʰ.
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan
*ubʰto- *ubdʰa- ubdaēna "woven" / "made of woven material"
*urdʰto- *urdzdʰa- vr̥ddʰá- vrzda- "complete/mature"
*augʰ-tá- *augdʰá- *óhate *augda "he said"
  • The Ruki rule: *s is retracted to *š when immediately following *r *r̥ *u *k or *i. Its allophone *z likewise becomes *ž.
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan
*wers- *warš- varṣman- "summit"
*pr̥sto- *pr̥šta- pr̥ṣṭhá- paršta "back" / "backbone"
*ǵeus- *ĵauš- joṣati zaošō "taste"
*kʷsep- *kšap- (< *ksep) kṣāp xšap "darkness"
*wis- *wiš- viṣa- viša- "poison"
*nisdo- *nižda- nīḍa- "nest"
  • Before a dental occlusive, *ĉ becomes *š and *ĵ becomes *ž. *ĵʰ also becomes *ž, with aspiration of the occlusive.
PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan
*h₂ok̂tṓ *oĉtṓ *aštā́ aṣṭaú ašta "eight"
*h₃mr̥ĝt- *mr̥ĵd- *mr̥žd- mr̥ḍīká- mərəžḍīka "wiped away" / "pardon"
*uĝʰtó- *uĵʰtó- *uždʰá- ūḍhá- "carried"
  • The sequence *ĉs was simplified to *šš.
PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin
*h₂ék̂s- *áĉs- *ášš- ákṣa- aši- axis "shoulder" / "axle"
  • The "second palatalization" or "law of palatals": *k *g *gʰ develop palatal allophones *č *ǰ *ǰʰ before the front vowels *i, *e.
PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan
*kʷe *ke *ča ca ča "and"
*gʷíh₃weti *gíh₃weti *ǰī́wati jī́vati jvaiti "lives"
*gʷʰénti *gʰénti *ǰʰánti hánti jainti "slays"
  • Brugmann's law: *o in an open syllable lengthens to *ō.
PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Latin
*deh₃tór-m *deh₃tṓr-m *dātā́ram dātā́ram dātāram dator "giver" (acc. sg.)
  • The vowels *e *o merge with *a. Similarly, *ē, *ō merge with *ā. This has the effect of giving full phonemic status to the second palatal series *č *ǰ *ǰʰ.
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan
*kʷe *ča (< *če) ca ča "and"
*gʷʰormó- *gʰarmá- gharmá- garəma- "heat"
*bʰréh₂tēr *bʰrā́tār bhrā́tā brātā "brother"
*wōkʷs *wākš vāk vāxš "voice"
  • In certain positions, laryngeals were vocalized to *i. This preceded the second palatalization.
    • Following a consonant, and preceding a consonant cluster
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan
*ph₂trei *pitrai pitre piθrai "father" (dative singular)
  • Following a consonant and word-final
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan
*-medʰh₂ *-madʰi -mahi -madi (1st person plural middle ending)
  • The Indo-European laryngeals all merged into one phoneme *H, which may have been a glottal stop. This was probably contemporary with the merging of *e and *o with *a.
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan
*ph₂tér *pHtā́ pitā́ ptā "father" (nominative singular)
  • According to Lubotsky's Law, *H disappeared when followed by a voiced nonaspirated stop and another consonant:
PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan
*bʰeh₂g- *bʰag- ( < *bʰaHg- ) bʰag- baxša "distribute"


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