3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Contents of Book, February 20, 2005
This review is from: Pre-Indo-European (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series, Volume 41) (Paperback)
THE BASES FOR RECONSTRUCTING PRE-IE: Advances in the Sciences and Fields Relevant for Indo-European Studies; Pre-Indo-European-an Active Language; Genetics and its Importance for Identifying the Indo-European Speakers in their Spread; Archeology and its Contribution to our Information on the Early Period of Indo-European Speakers; Indo-European as one of the Nostratic Languages; The Primary Bases for Reconstructing Pre-Indo-European. FROM PIE TO PRE-IE: The Common Source; The Comparative Method; The Method of Internal Reconstruction for Morphology and Syntax; The Use of Residues; Determination of Chronological Strata in Language; Typological Findings as Guides to Interpretation of Data; Characteristics of Active Languages; Inferences Based on Application of these Methods and Conclusions concerning Language Structures; Earlier Analyses of the Lexicon that Support the Assumption of Pre-Indo-European as an Active Language; Stages of Proto-Indo-European. RESIDUES IN PIE THAT PROMPT ITS IDENTIFICATION AS A REFLEX OF AN ACTIVE LANGUAGE: The Importance of Examining Residues as Illustrated by the Clarification of Germanic Phonology by Jacob Grimm and his Successors; Explanations of such Residues by a Historical Approach and the Assumption of Stages in Languages; Pre-Indo-European as an Agreement Language of the Active Sub-type; Doublets as Reflexes of Earlier Active Structure in the Lexicon; Reflexes of Active Languages in Nouns, Verbs, and Particles; Sentence Patterns of Active Structure as Found in the Early Dialects; Morphological Patterns Reflecting the Earlier Active Structure; Previous Recognition and Explanation of Active Language Characteristics in the Indo-European Languages; Conclusion. LEXICAL STRUCTURE: The Lexicon in Active Languages-Nouns, Verbs, and Particles; Nouns-Active/Animate and Stative/Inanimate, and the Introduction of Gender Classes; Sets of Nouns in Accordance with their Meaning; Words for the Family and its Arrangements; Verbs-Active and Stative; Involuntary Verbs; Centrifugal and Centripetal Uses of Verbs; Particles; The Particles Proper. SYNTAX: Active Language Syntax in Pre-Indo-European; Basic Word Order in the Sentence; Complex Sentences; the Use of Participles and Other Non-finite Verb Forms; Uses of Participles in the Early Dialects; Subordinate Clauses and the Development of Particles to Conjunctions; Classes of Particles; The Meanings and Origins of Selected Particles, and their Application as Morphological Markers; The Position of Particles with Reference to Nouns and Verbs; Examples of Early Texts that Reflect the Syntax of Pre-Indo-European. DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY: Attention to Indo-European Derivational Morphology in the Major Handbooks; Theoretical Assumptions in Previous Attention to the Earlier Derivational Patterning; Evidence for the Basic Derivational Processes; The Role of Particles in the Pre-Indo-European Lexicon; Production of the Earliest Suffixed Nouns; Production of the Earliest Suffixed Verbs; Evidence in Compounds; The Increasing Use of Suffixes in the Formation of New Verbs; Conclusion. INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY: Views in the Handbooks on Earlier Inflectional Morphology; The Active Verb System of Pre-Indo-European; of the Injunctive that Illustrate those of Earlier Verb Forms in Pre-Indo-European; Uses of the Perfect and of the Hittite hi-Conjugation Forms that Illustrate those of their Etymon in Pre-Indo-European; Non-finite Forms of the Verb in Pre-Indo-European; Verbal Nouns; The Development of Inflections in the Noun; Adjectives; Pronouns; Conclusion, with Examples that may Reflect Pre-Indo- European Texts. PHONOLOGY: Theoretical Bases of the Phonological Systems Proposed for Proto-Indo-European and Pre-Indo-European; Three Phonological Systems that have been Proposed for Proto-Indo-European; Period of Movable Pitch Accent and its Effect on Ablaut; The Period of Stress Accent and its Effect on Ablaut; Chronology of Ablaut Changes; The Obstruent System; the Glottalic Theory; The Palatals and Velars; The Resonants; The Pre-Indo-European Phonemic System. THE CULTURE OF THE PRE-INDO-EUROPEAN SPEAKERS: Evidence for the Civilization and Culture of the Pre-Indo-European Speakers; Criteria for Assuming a Preceramic Neo-lithic Period and its Relevance for Pre-Indo-European; Social and Economic Conditions; Livestock and Agricultural Activities in the Pre-Indo-European Community; Terminology Indicating Gradual Development from Hunting-Gathering to a Settled Society; Tokens, their Distribution, and implications for Settlement Areas of the Indo-European Speakers; Art, Literature and Religion of the Pre-Indo-European Speakers; Life in the Pre-Indo-European Period; Bases of the Preeminence of the Indo-Europeans. PRE-IE AND POSSIBLE RELATED LANGUAGES: Pre-Indo-European in Relation to Nostratic and Eurasiatic; Principles to be Observed in Reconstructing Macro-families; The Need to Reconstruct Proto-Languages for Macro-families; References; Index.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
First book-length presentation, much has appeared elsewhere, April 25, 2005
This review is from: Pre-Indo-European (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series, Volume 41) (Paperback)
Over the last two hundred years the comparative method has allowed historical linguists to reconstruct the ancestral language common to many of the languages of Europe and western Asia. Now that we already have a clear picture of Proto-Indo-European, we can reach an even earlier stage through internal reconstruction. In PRE-INDO-EUROPEAN, well-respected linguist Winfred Lehmann gives the first book-length study of this pre-proto-language.
The first part of the work is mainly a discussion of how internal reconstruction can build on what the comparative method has already provided. The first characteristic attributed to Pre-Indo-European is that it was an active (active/stative) language, and Lehmann tracks the development of this discovery. The lexicon is then examined in the new light of the pre-proto-language's typological configuration. Lehmann is known for his deep interest in the syntax of Proto-Indo-European, so as expected there is thought-provoking coverage of Pre-Indo-European's syntax and the role of particles. The morphology of Pre-IE is divided into derivational and inflectional. Finally, the view of Pre-IE is completed with a discussion of its phonology. As an addendum, Lehmann muses about the culture of the speakers of Pre-Indo-European, where he disagrees with Calvert Watkins on the feasibility of reconstructing proto-poetics, and the relationship of Pre-IE to other language families.
Lehmann does an excellent job of pulling in examples from Hittite, a language which still does not get the attention it deserves. In Lehmann's reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary, the three laryngeals are not reconstructed as the anonymous Hx, but rather are specific phonemes (H1 is a glottal stop, for example). This is an admirable step forward, as with the death of Szemerenyi laryngeal theory no longer has opposition and it's about time scholars decided the exact nature of each laryngeal.
My main complaint about Lehmann's work, however, is that much of it has already been presented in his fine primer THEORETICAL BASES OF INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTICS. Lehmann's original attempt here is to treat the pre-proto-language on its own. This isn't even acheived entirely, since before presenting the phonology of Pre-IE Lehmann believes it necessary to first talk about several opinions on the phonology of PIE. The work is also typeset unattractively and the Greek examples are all transliterated. As a result, I would say that PRE-INDO-EUROPEAN is a worthwhile read, and it does include some new insights. However, I don't thing this somewhat repetitive work will become a key text for new students in the field.
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