This study aims to describe the typological characteristics of the original Indo-European structure, called the derivative-flectional stage (or (sub)type), and to trace its developments to the paradigmatically organized structure of the individual Indo-European languages, called the paradigmatic-flectional stage (or (sub)type). This development is demonstrated in Latin, a language characterized by highy developed inflection, which attests, especially by its verbal system, an alternative way of paradigmatizing the original structure, differing from Old Indian and Greek on which traditional reconstruction was based. The notion of derivative-flectional type is used to try to penetrate to the original form and historical sources of the IE flectional type without presupposing radical typological change between Proto-IE and IE. The author's view differs from the traditional theory of prehistoric change in IE structure (from isolation to flection via agglutination) in that she assumes the origins of flection lie in lexico-derivative categorization. The book is divided into three parts: 1. The Origins and Evolution of the Indo-European Flectional Type 2. The Basic Principles and Origins of the Nominal System and Inflections 3. The Indo-European Origins of the Latin Verbal System

Discusses the nature, origins, and development of language and lists the meanings and associated word for more than thirteen thousand Indo-European root words.

Situated at the crossroads of comparative philology, classics and general historical linguistics, this study is the first ever attempt to outline in full the developments which led from the remotest recoverable stages of the Indo-European proto-language to the complex verbal system encountered in Homer and other early Greek texts. By combining the methods of comparative and internal reconstruction with a careful examination of large collections of primary data and insights gained from the study of language change and linguistic typology, Andreas Willi uncovers the deeper reasons behind many surface irregularities and offers a new understanding of how categories such as aspect, tense and voice interact. Drawing upon evidence from all major branches of Indo-European, and providing exhaustive critical coverage of scholarly debate on the most controversial issues, this book will be an essential reference tool for anyone seeking orientation in this burgeoning but increasingly fragmented area of linguistic research.

This book explores the origin and evolution of important grammatical categories of the Indo-European verb, including the markers of person, tense, number, aspect, and mood. Its central thesis is that many of these markers can be traced to original deictic particles which were incorporated into verbal structures in order to indicate the 'hic and nunc' and various degrees of remoteness from the 'hic and nunc'. The alterations to which these deictic elements were subject are viewed here in the context of an Indo-European language very different from Brugmannian Indo-European, many features of which, it is argued, appeared only in the period of dialectal development. This book challenges numerous traditional proposals about the Indo-European verb; all reconstructions contained in it are firmly based on extant data and are consonant with established principles of linguistic change.