This monograph presents a general picture of the evolution of IE verbal systems within a coherent cognitive framework. The work encompasses all the language families of the IE phylum, from prehistory to present day languages. Inspired by the ideas of Roman Jakobson and Gustave Guillaume the authors relate tense and aspect to underlying cognitive processes, and show that verbal systems have a staged development of time representations (chronogenesis). They view linguistic change as systemic and trace the evolution of the earliest tense systems by (a) aspectual split and (b) aspectual merger from the original aspectual contrasts of PIE, the evidence for such systemic change showing clearly in the paradigmatic morphology of the daughter languages. The nineteen chapters cover first the ancient documentation, then those families whose historical data are from a more recent date. The last chapters deal with the systemic evolution of languages that are descended from ancient forbears such as Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, and are completed by a chapter on the practical and theoretical conclusions of the work.

This monograph presents a general picture of the evolution of IE verbal systems within a coherent cognitive framework. The work encompasses all the language families of the IE phylum, from prehistory to present day languages. Inspired by the ideas of Roman Jakobson and Gustave Guillaume the authors relate tense and aspect to underlying cognitive processes, and show that verbal systems have a staged development of time representations (chronogenesis). They view linguistic change as systemic and trace the evolution of the earliest tense systems by (a) aspectual split and (b) aspectual merger from the original aspectual contrasts of PIE, the evidence for such systemic change showing clearly in the paradigmatic morphology of the daughter languages. The nineteen chapters cover first the ancient documentation, then those families whose historical data are from a more recent date. The last chapters deal with the systemic evolution of languages that are descended from ancient forbears such as Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, and are completed by a chapter on the practical and theoretical conclusions of the work.

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 volume provides a detailed investigation of perfects from all the branches of the Indo-European language family, in some cases representing the first ever comprehensive description. Thorough philological examinations result in empirically well-founded analyses illustrated with over 940 examples. The unique temporal depth and diatopic breadth of attested Indo-European languages permits the investigation of both TAME (Tense-Aspect-Mood-Evidentiality) systems over time and recurring cycles of change, as well as synchronic patterns of areal distribution and contact phenomena. These possibilities are fully exploited in the volume. Furthermore, the cross-linguistic perspective adopted by many authors, as well as the inclusion of contributions which go beyond the boundaries of the Indo-European family per se, facilitates typological comparison. As such, the volume is intended to serve as a springboard for future research both into the semantics of the perfect in Indo-European itself, and verb systems across the world’s languages.

Inhalt: Miyu Akao: Internal and External Factors behind the Development of the Tocharian Secondary Cases Milena Anfosso: The Phrygians from Βρίγες to Φρύγες: Herodotus 7.73, or the Linguistic Problems of a Migration Roberto Batisti: On Greek Αἰθίοψ 'Ethiopian' and Αἴσωπος 'Aesop' from a PIE Perspective James Clackson: The Latin and Oscan Imperfect Subjunctive in *-sē- John Clayton: Rhinoglottophilia in Avestan: *h > [h̃] and Its Orthographic and Phonological Consequences Ashwini Deo: Copular Contrasts in Indo-Aryan Diachrony Petra M. Goedegebuure: The Fat and the Furious: *w(o)rg̑- 'fat, furious, strong' and Derivatives in Hittite and Luwian Ian Hollenbaugh: Inceptives in Ancient Greek Ronald I. Kim: PIE Verbal Roots of the Shape *C(C)eH- in Old Armenian Jared S. Klein: Old Church Slavic obače and tŭk(ŭ)mo Laura Massetti: "Hermes and Hestia" Revisited: Hermes ἀκάκητα and the Funerary Fire Thomas Motter: Hittite Correlative Resumption as Discourse Anaphora Domenico Giuseppe Muscianisi: Zeus Δέκτερος 'Benevolent, Welcoming' from Thera and Proto-Indo-European 'Right' Anthony D. Yates: The Phonology and Morphology of Anatolian *-mon-stems

This book reconciles what is known of the Proto-Indo-European verbal system with the evidence of Hittite and the other early Anatolian languages. The decipherment of Hittite in 1917 and the recognition that it was an Indo-European language had dramatic consequences for conceptions of the Indo-European parent language. For most of the twentieth century, the 'disconnects' between Hittite and the other early languages such as Sanskrit and Greek have been the subject of research,scholars finally realizing that the question was not whether the conventional picture of the parent language should be modified to account for the facts of Hittite, but how. After investigating the subject for twenty-five years, Professor Jasanoff proposes a resolution of the problem that is the mostthorough and systematic yet published. In this outstanding book he puts forward a new and revolutionary model of the Proto-Indo-European verbal system which will have a profound impact on the study of the Indo-European family of languages. It also represents a significant advance in the understanding of the history of Indo-European.