Cover not available
Part of
Historical Linguistics 2015: Selected papers from the 22nd International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Naples, 27-31 July 2015
Edited by Michela Cennamo and Claudia Fabrizio
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 348] 2019
► pp. 77–96

Chapter 4
Ablaut in Armenian nasal declension

Old Armenian consonant nominal inflection is characterised by different alternation patterns of inflectional stems within the paradigm. Such a phenomenon is analysed in the perspective of word-and-paradigm morphology. As a result, all the patterns displaying the alternation of two or three different inflectional stems are derivable from the more complex alternation pattern, including four different stems, which attest three different reflexes of PIE ablaut: zero-grade, e-grade and o-grade. This latter paradigm can be considered not only the pivot of the variable Armenian nominal inflection: it is also considerable as an archaism, on the bases of comparative data offered by Sanskrit, Avestan, Old Greek and Gothic.
Keywords: word-and-paradigm morphology, Armenian, Indo-European, nominal inflection, ablaut
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.General characters of Classical Armenian nominal inflection
  • 3.Morphomic alternations in the consonantal classes
  • 4.Analysis
  • 5.Comparative observations
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 September 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.348.04sch
References (52)
References
Abeghian, Artasches. 1936. Neuarmenische Grammatik. Ost- und Westarmenisch. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Stephen R. 1992. A-Morphous Morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Belardi, Walter. 1960. Review of Jensen 1959, Annali dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale. Sezione linguistica 2. 133–44.Google Scholar
. 1962. Sull’origine delle voci armene composte con pat, Ricerche linguistiche 5 [=In memoria di Mario Lucidi]. 149–69.Google Scholar
. 1990. Genealogia, tipologia, ricostruzione e leggi fonetiche. In id., Linguistica generale, filologia e critica dell’espressione. 155–216. Roma: Bulzoni.Google Scholar
. 2003. Elementi di armeno aureo. I (Biblioteca di ricerche linguistiche e filologiche, 57.1). Rome: Il Calamo.Google Scholar
. 2004. Del rapporto gerarchico tra grammatica e lessico nell’armeno più antico. Rendiconti dell’Accademia dei Lincei (ser. 9) 15. 185–203.Google Scholar
. 2006. Elementi di armeno aureo. II. Le origini indoeuropee del sistema fonologico armeno. Roma: Il Calamo.Google Scholar
Booij, Geert. 20072. The Grammar of Word: An Introduction to Morphology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chantraine, Pierre. 1968. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. Hisoitre des mots. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Clackson, James. 2007. Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chantraine, Pierre. 19842. Morphologie hitorique du grec. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Corbett, Greville G. 2007. Canonical typology, suppletion, and possible word. Language 83. 8–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012. Features. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delbrunner, Albert & Jacob Wackernagel. 1930. Altindische Grammatik. III. Nominalflexion, Zahlwort, Pronomen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Dum-Tragut, Jasmine. 2009. Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Godel, Robert. 1975. An Introduction to the Study of Classical Armenian. Wiesbaden: Reichert.Google Scholar
Hamp, Eric P. 1988. On the Essentiality of the Armenian Nasal Declension. Annual of Armenian Linguistics 9. 19–20.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Karl & Bernhard, Forssman. 20042. Avestische Laut- und Flexionlehre. Innsbruck: Universität Innsbruck.Google Scholar
J̌ahowkyan, Gevorg B. 1959. Hin hayereni holovman sistemə ev nra cagowmə, Erevan, Erevani Hamalsarani Hratarakč̣owṭyown.Google Scholar
Jensen, Hans. 1959. Altarmenische Grammatik (Indogermanische Bibliothek. Lehr- und Handbücher). Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Kloekhorst, Alwin. 2013. Indo-European nominal ablaut pattern: The Anatolian evidence. In Götz Keydana, Paul Widmer, Thomas Olander (eds.), Indo-European Accent and Ablaut. 107–28. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.Google Scholar
Kümmel, Martin Joachim. 2014. Zum ‘proterokinetischen’ Ablaut. In Norbert Oettinger & Thomas Sterr (eds.), Das Nomen im Idogermanischen. Morphologie, Substantiv versus Adjektiv, Kollektivum. Akten der Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 14. bis 16. September 2011 in Erlangen. 164–79. Wiesbaden: Reichert.Google Scholar
Kieckers, Ernst. 1960. Handbuch der vergleichenden gotischen Grammatik. München: Hueber.Google Scholar
Krahe, Hans 1948. Historische Laut- und Formenlehre des Gotischen. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Kroonen, Guus. 2011. The Proto-Germanic n-Stems: A Study in Diachronic Morphophonology. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Kuryłowicz, Jerzy. 1956. L’apophonie en indo-européen. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.Google Scholar
. 1960. The Inflectional Categories of Indo-European. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Macdonell, Arthur Antony. 1910. Vedic Grammar. Strassburg: Trübner.Google Scholar
Mahé, Jean-Pierre. 1998–2000. Les collectifs en –unk’ en arménien classiques. Revue des études arméniennes 27. 81–92. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maiden, Martin. 1992. Irregularity as a determinant of morphological change. Journal of Linguistics 28. 285–312. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matthews, P. H. 19912. Morphology. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press (1st ed. 1974). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matzinger, Joachim 2002. Untersuchungen zum altarmenischen Nomen: Die Flexion des Substantivs. Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doctor philosophiae, Regensburg.Google Scholar
Meier-Brügger, Michael. 20109. Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Meillet, Antoine. 1913. Altarmenisches Elementarbuch (Indogermanische Bibliothek. Lehr- und Handbücher). Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
. 1936. Esquisse d’une grammaire comparée de l’arménien classique. Wien: Imprimerie des pp. Mekhitaristes.Google Scholar
. 1964. Introduction à l’étude comparative des langues indo-éuropéennes, preface by George C. Buck. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press (reprint of the ed. Paris 19378).Google Scholar
Milizia, Paolo. 2013. L’equilibrio nella codifica morfologica. Roma: Carocci.Google Scholar
Olsen, Birgit Anette. 1999. The Noun in Biblical Armenian: Origin and Word Formation – with special emphasis on the Indo-European heritage (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs, 119). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pirrelli, Vito & Battista, Marco. 2000. The paradigmatic dimension of stem allomorphy in Italian verb inflection. Rivista di Linguistica 12. 307–80.Google Scholar
Rix, Helmut 19922. Historische Grammatik des Griechischen. Laut- und Formenlehre. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Schirru, Giancarlo. 2007. Parola minima e piede minimo in armeno. Archivio glottologico italiano 92. 179–202.Google Scholar
. 2011. Osservazioni sui riflessi armeni delle occlusive sorde indoeuropee, con alcune proposte etimologiche (arm. tanjr, hnjan, sanj, anjn). In Alberto Manco & Domenico Silvestri (eds.), L’etimologia. Atti del XXXV convegno della Società italiana di glottologia (Naples, 21–23 October 2010), 279–88. Roma: Il Calamo.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Rüdiger. 1972. Empfehlungen zur Transliteration der armenischen Schrift, Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung 86. 296–306.Google Scholar
. 1981. Grammatik des Klassisch-Armenischen mit Sprachvergleichenden Erläuterungen (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, 35). Innsbruck: Universität Innsbruck.Google Scholar
Schwyzer, Eduard. 1939. Griechische Grammatik. I. Allgemeiner Teil, Lautlehre, Wortbildung. Flexion. München: Beck.Google Scholar
Stump, Gregory T. 2001. Inflectional Morphology: A Theory of Paradigm Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016. Inflectional Paradigms. Content and Form at the Syntax-Morphology Interface. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Szemerényi, Oswald J. L. 1996. Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press (English translation of Einführung in die vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Darmstadt 19904).Google Scholar
Thonton, Anna M. 2005. Morfologia. Roma: Carocci.Google Scholar
Widmer, Paul 2004. Das Korn des weiten Feldes. Interne Derivation, Derivationskette und Flexionsklassenhierarchie: Aspekte der nominalen Wortbildung im Urindogermanischen. Innsbruck: Universität Innsbruck.Google Scholar
Withney, William Dwight. 19245. Sanskrit Grammar: Including both, the classical language and the older dialects of Veda and Brāhmaṇa. Leipzig (reprinted Delhi: Motilal Benarsidass, 2002).Google Scholar