The loss of *g before *m in Proto-Slavic

This paper proposes a new sound rule for Proto-Slavic, according to which *g (from PIE *g, *gw, *gh, and *gwh) was lost before *m. This development was posterior to Winter’s law and the merger of voiced and aspirated stop in Slavic. The operation of the rule is illustrated by new etymologies of four Slavic words: *ama, *jama ‘hole, pit’, *těmę ‘sinciput’, *mąžь ‘husband, man’, and *remy ‘leather belt’

THE PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN VOWEL SYSTEM FROM THE TYPOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW

In this paper I examine the proposed reconstructions of the PIE vowel system from a typological point of view. It is argued that the monovocalic or vowelless systems are improbable, because no such systems are attested in the languages of the world. On the other hand, the maximalistic view of the PIE vowel system is equally unacceptable, because the alleged instances of PIE *a can be explained away as containing *h2, and the PIE long vowels *e and *o are best treated as short *e and *o with the additional suprasegmental feature of length. However, the most usual phonetic interpretation of the ablauting PIE vowels *e and *o is not convincing, because there are no languages containing /e/ and /o/ but no /a/. Although the final solution of this problem is not offered, it is argued that it would be possible to interpret PIE e as /a/, and * PIE *o as /O/ to achieve a typologically plausible reconstruction of the PIE vowel system

The Possessive and Adjective Phrases in Croatian

It is argued that the syntactic behaviour of the Croatian possessive NPs can be accounted for by Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). The prohibition against possessive NPs with more than one possessive adjective is a consequence of a basic claim of RRG, namely, that adjectives are operators and are not represented in the constituent projection. Therefore, adjectives, including the Croatian possessive adjectives, cannot have a branching structure, so possessive adjectives are replaced by postnominal possessive genitives whenever a possessed noun is modified by more than one possessor. Adjectives taking complements (e. g. full of beer) are also invariably postnominal in Croatian and English, as well as in other right- branching languages. Such adjective phrases should be analyzed as a kind of reduced relative phrase

Protetsko *g- ispred *ně- u praslavenskome

In this paper we argue that prosthetic *g- in Proto-Slavic *gnězdo ‘nest’ developed regularly before *n followed by *ě, rather than analogically. We further suggest two new etymologies that confirm the regularity of this development: Proto-Slavic *gněvъ ‘anger’ can be derived from PIE *noyH‑wo- (from the same root as OIr. níth ‘anger’ and OHG nīd(h) ‘jealousy, hate’), while Proto-Slavic *gnětiti ‘burn, light (a fire)’ can be from PIE *noyt- ‘shine’ (from the same root as Lat. niteō ‘shine’). We also show that, although the proposed rule of “g-prosthesis” in Slavic relies on only three examples, there are no counter-examples which would refute it.U ovom članku pokazujemo da se protetsko *g- u praslavenskoj riječi *gnězdo ‘gnijezdo’ razvilo pravilno (a ne analoški, kao što se ponekad misli) ispred glasovnoga niza *ně-. Također predlažemo dvije nove etimologije koje potvrđuju to pravilo: praslavenski *gněvъ ‘gnjev, ljutnja’ je izvodivo iz ie. *noyH-wo- (iz istoga korijena kao i staroirski níth ‘gnjev’ i starovisokonjemački nīd(h) ‘ljubomora, mržnja’), dok je praslavenski *gnětiti ‘paliti, zapaliti’ izvodivo iz indoeuropskoga *noyt- ‘sjati’ (iz istoga korijena kao u latinskome niteō ‘sjati’). Također pokazujemo da pravilo o “protetskome g-“ u praslavenskome nema protuprimjera koji bi ga opovrgli

Four Latin Etymologies: volgus, laedo, paedor, merx

U radu se predlažu četiri nove etimologije latinskih riječi: 1. lat. volgus ‘narod, puk’ se izvodi iz ie. *wog’hlo- metatezom (isti je praoblik odražen u gr. ókhlos ‘mnoštvo, rulja’, iz korijena *weg’h- ‘voziti’). 2. Lat. laedo ‘ubiti’ se izvodi iz ie. *slad- ‘ubiti, udariti’ (stir. slaidid) s dvoglasom -ae-analogijom prema caedo ‘sjeći’. 3. Lat. paedor ‘prljavština’ se izvodi iz ie. složenice *h2pe-h2 eyd-ōs, od prefiksa *h2pe- ‘od, iz’ i korijena *h2eyd- ‘bujati’ (arm. aytnum, stsl. jadъ ‘otrov’). 4. Lat. merx ‘roba, trgovina’ se izvodi iz ie. *merg’- ‘dijeliti’ (het. mārk-i ‘dijeliti, odvajati’), iz istoga korijena koji je i u lat. margō, marginis ‘granica’

Sročnost u okviru gramatike uloga i referenci: tipologija mogućih ciljeva sročnosti

This paper presents a sketch of a theory of agreement within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar and proposes an implicational universal that can be formulated rather elegantly due to RRG’s conception of the layered structure of the clause. It is argued that, in the RRG framework, controllers of agreement are always elements represented in the Constituent Projection, while targets of agreement may be represented both in the Constituent Projection and in the Operator Projection. On the basis of a sample of 300 languages, we propose an implicational universal stating that languages cannot have agreement on operators, unless they also have agreement on syntactic elements represented on the constituent projection (the converse does not hold). This claim can be shown to have very few apparent counter–examples, and holds for both the domains of the NP (RP) and the Clause. It lends further support to the distinction between operator projection and constituent projection, which is one of the foundations of RRG’s approach to syntax.U ovom se radu iznosi skica teorije sročnosti u okviru gramatike uloga i referenci (GUR), a predlaže se i implikacijska univerzalija koja se može precizno formulirati putem koncepcije slojevite strukture surečenice koju zastupa GUR. Tvrdi se da su, u okviru GUR–a, upravljači sročnosti uvijek sintaktički elementi predstavljeni u konstituentskoj projekciji, dok ciljevi sročnosti mogu biti prikazani i u konstituentskoj i u operatorskoj projekciji. Na temelju uzorka od 300 jezika predlažemo implikacijsku univerzaliju prema kojoj jezici ne mogu imati sročnost na operatorima ako ujedno nemaju sročnost na sintaktičkim elementima prikazanim na konstituentskoj projekciji (obrat te tvrdnje ne vrijedi). Može se pokazati da ta univerzalija ima vrlo malo prividnih protuprimjera i da stoji i u domeni imenske skupine (NP ili RP) i u domeni surečenice. Ona pruža dodatnu potvrdu razlici između operatorske i konstituentske projekcije, što je jedna od temeljnih odlika pristupa sintaksi u GUR–u

Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic: questions of relative chronology

Proučavanje germanskih posuđenica može pomoći u uspostavljanju relativne kronologije nekih glasovnih promjena u praslavenskome. Kako germanske imenice srednjega roda postaju u praslavenskom imenice muškoga roda, pokazuje se da je većina njih bila primijena prije nego što su baritonske imenice srednjega roda (npr. praie. *dhwórom \u27vrata\u27) postale imenice muškoga roda (stsl. dvorъ) po Illič-Svityčevu pravilu. Pokazuje se također da je većina germanskih posuđenica ušla u praslavenski prije djelovanja Dyboova zakona, po kojemu se naglasak pomiče s neakutnoga početnoga sloga na sljedeći slog. To je posljedica činjenice da su pragermanski i gotski imali naglasak na početku riječi, dok su u praslavenskom gotovo sve germanske posuđenice s kratkim početnim slogom oksitone.It is argued that the study of Germanic loanwords can provide us with the relative chronology of certain sound changes in Proto-Slavic. Since the Germanic neuters become masculines in Proto-Slavic, it is argued that the majority of them was borrowed before barytone neutra (e.g. PIE *dhwórom \u27door\u27) became masculines (OCS dvorъ) by virtue of Illič-Svityč\u27s rule. It is also argued that most Germanic loanwords entered Proto-Slavic before the operation of Dybo\u27s law, by which stress was shifted from non-acute initial syllable to the following syllable. This is a consequence of the fact that Proto-Germanic and Gothic had word-initial stress, whereas almost all Germanic loanwords with the short initial syllable were oxytona in Proto-Slavic

Zwei unbekannte kroatische Etymologien

U radu se predlažu dvije nove etimologije riječi koje nisu etimološki obrađene u Skokovu \u27Etimološkom rječniku hrvatskoga jezika\u27. Riječ \u27santa\u27 dovodi se u vezu s korijenom *san-od kojega dolazi i riječ \u27sanjke\u27, te povezuje s ie. korijenom *skeh2n-, od kojega je i grč. skēnē; riječ šaka izvodi se iz korijena *čak-\u27udarati\u27 onomatopejskoga podrijetla.In diesem Aufsatz werden die Etymologien von zwei kroatischen Wörtern vorgeschlagen, die im etymologischen Wörterbuch von Petar Skok etymologisch nicht erörtert wurden. Kroatisch santa \u27Eisscholle\u27 wird mit der Wurzel *san-in Zusammenhang gebracht, woraus auch kroat. sanjke \u27Schlitten\u27 abgeleitet wird. Diese slawische Wurzel wird dann mit griech. Skēnē < idg. *skeh2n-etymologisch verglichen. Kroat. šaka \u27Faust\u27 wird aus der onomatopöischen Wurzel *čak-\u27schlagen\u27 abgeleitet