Papers by Kenneth Shields
Indogermanische Forschungen, 1996
Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia, May 15, 2013
On the basis of formal correspondences and typological data, it is argued in this brief paper tha... more On the basis of formal correspondences and typological data, it is argued in this brief paper that an etymological connection probably exists between the Indo-European dative suffix *-ei and the Indo-European causative element *-ei- via a morpheme which Song (1996) describes as “PURP.” Most significantly, the paper demonstrates how typological data can serve a primary role in reconstruction rather than a merely evaluative one
Lingua Posnaniensis, 2007
Journal of Indo-European Studies, 1999
On the basis of research previously published by the author, this article explores the origin of ... more On the basis of research previously published by the author, this article explores the origin of the so-called bare stem enclitic accusative personal pronouns of Indo-European, especially the second person singular form in * te. It is proposed that a zero grade first person singular stem in * m- with an affixed objective marker in * -e served as the basis for a reanalysis of the second person singular stem in * te- as zero-grade * t- + affix * -e
Orbis, 1994
In SHIELDS (1980), I present a theory about the origin of the markers of adjectival comparison in... more In SHIELDS (1980), I present a theory about the origin of the markers of adjectival comparison in Indo-European and the early dialects. Over a decade later, I continue to accept the basic premise of this article-that the markers of adjectival comparison have their origin in the contamination of various non-singular suffixes. This premise is based on the traditional idea that "certain markers of the comparative and the superlative are etymologically related to the intensive verbal aspect (PROKOSCH 1939: 265)" and the more recent proposal of DRESSLER (1968) that "the intensive (as well as a number of other verbal aspects) is a «bestimmte Nuance der verbalen Pluralität» (ERHART 1973: 245)", which, along with the nominal plural, constitutes a combinatory variant of the sememe "Pluralität" 1. In this brief paper, however, I want to modify a number of specific analyses in SHIELDS (1980) on the basis of some subsequent ideas of mine about the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European non-singular markers and numerals. In my opinion, these modifications serve to strengthen the original central thesis of my paper on adjectival comparison. Before proceeding to these novel proposals, I must point out that support for my notion that the comparative and superlative markers are themselves etymologically related to the markers of non-singularity comes, first of all, from an interesting developmental parallel between the categories of non-singularity and adjectival comparison. It is becoming widely recognized that "ohne Zweifel gab es im PIE keinen Plural" (ADRADOS 1985: 31) 2. As LEHMANN (1974: 201-202) points out: "The system of verb endings clearly points to an earlier period in which there was no verbal inflection for number [...]. For the dual and plural endings are obviously defective. We cannot reconstruct endings in these two numbers which are as well supported as are those of the singular, except for the third plural [...]. The number system is defective in substantival as well as in verbal inflection. The personal pronouns never introduce expressions for plurality, as suppletive paradigms indicate, e.g., Hitt. uk "I", ºes "we", etc., in contrast with demonstratives, e.g., kas, ke
Journal of Indo-European Studies, 2001
Dans le cadre de la linguistique comparative indo-europeenne, l'hypothese nostratique et la n... more Dans le cadre de la linguistique comparative indo-europeenne, l'hypothese nostratique et la nouvelle image (Adrados, 1992) de la morphologie indo-europeenne suscitent un interet grandissant. Selon la Theorie Nostratique, le proto-indo-europeen n'est pas une langue genetiquement isolee, mais liee a certaines familles de langues de l'Eurasie centrale et du Nord, du sous-continent indien et de l'ancien Proche-Orient. Selon les tenants de la nouvelle image de la morphologie indo-europeenne, ce n'est pas un, mais trois types d'indo-europeens qui sont a reconstruire. L'A. souligne l'importance des correspondances grammaticales dans la validation des differentes methodes de reconstruction utilisees dans ce champ de recherche
Studi micenei ed egeo-anatolici, 2003
One of the morpho-syntactic peculiarities of Neo-Hittite is the occurrence of the enclitic third ... more One of the morpho-syntactic peculiarities of Neo-Hittite is the occurrence of the enclitic third person pronominal format in the nominative-accusative singular neuter, the nominative-accusative plural neuter, and the nominative plural animate (common). As Friedrich (1974: 63) observes, «lm Nom. Plur. comm. [and nom.-acc. pl. neut.] hat die alte Sprache die indogermanische Form des pronominalen Nom. Plur. mask. als-e < *-oi bewahrt, wahrend die Sprache des Neuen Reiches das zunachst singularische. dann auch pluralische Neutrum-at dafur mit eintreten lasst». Of course. the implication of Friedrich's remarks is that the plural enclitic pronoun-at shares a common origin with that of the neuter singular and that it simply represents an extension of the singular form. More recently. Gamkrelidze & lvanov (1995: 337-338) suggest that the enclitic plural-at of the common gender is a more ancient form which bears an etymological connection to the stem of plural «deictic pronominals» in the dialects of lndo-European Proper: «Hitt.-at 'they'. Luw.-atta 'they' beside Skt. masc. pl. te. fern. tas; Gk. masc. pl. toi, fern. tai; Goth. masc. pl. pai, fern. pas; Toch. A masc. pl. cai. B cem. fern. tOIfl. As a common protoform for these dialects we can posit masc. pl. [*toi] with a stem in ['~t_]»I.
Linguistica, Dec 29, 2010
The debate about whether or not hittite ever had the feminine gender also remains lively. Melcher... more The debate about whether or not hittite ever had the feminine gender also remains lively. Melchert (1994) very recently asserts that there is evidence for a feminine in Anatolian in the form of a "motion suffix"-i-added to common gender nouns in Luvian and perhaps some adjectives in hittite. however, as Matasović (2004: 39) significantly observes, "a major indication that Anatolian actually never had the third gender comes from typology. It has been observed that, when gender distinctions are lost, their traces are almost always preserved in demonstrative pronouns, if anywhere in the language …. Thus, if there were any traces of the feminine gender in Anatolian, one would expect them to be preserved in the pronominal system, rather than in adjectives and nouns, where their potential functional load would have been minimal." 2 Still another very recent attempt to explain the origin of the feminine category is contained in Gender in indo-eurpean (2004), by Ranko Matasović. Although Matasović does not cite my scholarship, his view of the origin of the feminine (cf. 2004: 173-176) is essentially the one which I have proposed in Shields (1995). Nevertheless, this new book of his demonstrates once again the continued interest of Indo-Europeanists in this topic. Other recent studies of Indo-European gender include Euler (1991),
Indogermanische Forschungen, Dec 31, 2000
Hittite presents numerous etymological problems to the field of comparative Indo-European linguis... more Hittite presents numerous etymological problems to the field of comparative Indo-European linguistics. Among the most difficult Hittite lexical items to assess etymologically "are those items where sumerograms tease us with an unpleasant version of hide-and-seek" (Puhvel 1992: 264). Although derivative forms in syllabic script and full attestations in minor dialects of Anatolian often shed light on the formal properties of these words, some lexical items remain largely inaccessible because of their logographic rendering. One such item is the word for 'son' (and 'male child') DUMU.DUMU-&? (nom.) or DUMU-/0— the latter providing a tantalizing clue regarding its final syllable. Since Hittite 'son' appears quite removed from the *sunu(e.g., Skt. sunu-, Go. sunus) "etymologically related to the [Indo-European Proper] root *seuH-l*suH'give birth; cf. Skt. sute 'gives birth', suta'son; born', Avest. hav'give birth' (the IndoEuropean [Proper] word for 'son' is formed from this root by suffixation of *-nor the thematic vowel..." [Gamkrelidze & Ivanov 1995: 667-668]) and from such forms as Lycian tideimi ("a transparent Luwian *f/ta//m-'sucking' not very unlike Latin filius" [Puhvel 1992: 264]), Melchert (1980) uses the phonological glimpse provided by the phonetic complement of DUMU-/0and his "hypothesis that the spelling nu-uz-za ['conjunction plus reflexive particle'] was conditioned by a following vowel" (1980: 92) to identify the form of the word as ayawala-, "which occurs in the 'Tawagalawa Letter', KUB.XIV 3 I 6-12" with, in his view, the appropriate meaning. He goes on to maintain that there is "no compelling reason to assume that the word [ayawala-] is Indo-European at all", although he prefers to see the element -/aas Hittite. In support of the non-IndoEuropean origins of the word, Melchert (1980: 95) argues that the Hittite term of relationship nega'sister similarly lacks cognates in Indo-European Proper. Despite a failure to justify his assertion in detail, Puhvel (1992: 264) observes that "Melchert's ayawala(1980: 90-95) hardly fills the bill" as an explanation and proceeds to characterize the Hittite form simply as an "obscure innova-
Journal of Indo-European Studies, 1998
This brief paper explores the origin of the reflexive stems *se-, *s(e)we- traditionally reconstr... more This brief paper explores the origin of the reflexive stems *se-, *s(e)we- traditionally reconstructed for Indo-European. It is argued that a demonstrative in *(e/o)s- underlies the reflexive elements *se- and *s- and that *-we- can be derived from an ancient Indo-European indirect speech marker which was affixed to the demonstrative as a means of formally differentiating the true reflexive and logophoric functions. Both comparative and typological evidence is used to support this theory
Linguistica, Dec 1, 1979
CDU 809.12-4-55 THE ORIGIN OF THE IE ENDINGLESS IDCATIVE , In this paper is presented a new bypot... more CDU 809.12-4-55 THE ORIGIN OF THE IE ENDINGLESS IDCATIVE , In this paper is presented a new bypothesis regarding the development of the so-called "endingless locative" construction of Indo-European. It is argued that locative formations i *-* .... .
Folia Linguistica Historica, 1994
It is well known that in early Indo-European "the sufHxes r ... and n ... became associated in a ... more It is well known that in early Indo-European "the sufHxes r ... and n ... became associated in a common paradigm in which the nom. acc. was formed by the r-stem, while the oblique cases were formed on the basis of an Ai-stcm. This ancient type of neuter noun is tending to obsolescence in the earliest Sanskrit, äs it is in Greek and most of the other languages [cf., e.g., nom.-acc. sg. Skt. ahar 'day', gen. sg. ahnas\ Lat. nom.-acc. sg. femur 'thigh', gen. sg. feminis (beside femoris with-r-generalized)]. In Hittite on the other band, which presents here, äs so often, a more archaic stage of Indo-European, the System is unimpaired [cf., e.g., nom.-acc. sg. eshar 'blood', gen. sg. esnas\ nom.-acc. sg. watar 'water', gen. sg. wetenas] ... This early system of neuter nouns exists only in fragments in other IE languages, but an abundance of suffixes containing r and n have these primitive neuter types äs their ultimate source" (Burrow 1973: 127). In Shields (1979) and (1982a: 25-30), I propose that this ancient declensional class owes its suffix alternation to the original ergative typology of early Indo-European. However, in light of recent strong objections to ascribing an ergative case system to Indo-European (cf., e.g., Rumsey 1987a, 1987b) and of my own commitment to the view that "there are very few unique Solutions to the problems posed by historical and comparative linguistics" (Shields 1982a: 2), I want to pursue still another possible explanation of the origin of the r-//i-stems. Clearly, I am not advocating that this new reconstruction is the solution to the etymological puzzle which these forms present to the Indo-Europeanist; instead, I am merely asserting here that this reconstruction is plausible because it is "consonant with extant data and with what is known about linguistic structure and evolution" (Shields 1992: 2). I offer this new etymology in the context of Lehmann's proposal (1976) that "Indo-European languages developed from topic-prominent languages to subject-prominent languages" (1976: 456). 1 According to Li and Thompson (1976: 459), "in subject-prominent languages, the structure of sentences favors a description in which the grammatical relation subjectpredicate plays a major role; in topic-prominent languages, the basic structure of sentences favors a description in which the grammatical relation l Schmalstieg (1980:166-168) likewise ascribes a topic prominent Status to early Indo-European.
Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia, Mar 11, 2015
In this brief paper it is proposed, on the basis of formal and typological evidence, that the Ind... more In this brief paper it is proposed, on the basis of formal and typological evidence, that the Indo-European pronominal stem *ei may be related etymologically to the root *ei- ‘go.’
NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution, Oct 1, 2004
Historische Sprachforschung, 1998
L'A. tente d'expliquer l'origine de la racine pronominale hittite u- marquant la prem... more L'A. tente d'expliquer l'origine de la racine pronominale hittite u- marquant la premiere personne du singulier, en se basant sur sa reconstruction du systeme original des pronoms personnels indo-europeen. Il fournit ainsi une description de l'evolution typologique de ce systeme et souleve certaines questions concernant les etymologies traditionnelles de la premiere personne du pluriel et du duel en germanique
Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia, 2007
American Speech, 1989
... REFERENCES Atwood, E. Bagby. 1950. "Grease and Greasy: A Study of Geographical Variation... more ... REFERENCES Atwood, E. Bagby. 1950. "Grease and Greasy: A Study of Geographical Variation." University of Texas Studies in English 29: 249-60. Rpt. ... New York: Holt, 1971. 424-33. . 1962. The Regional Vocabulary of Texas. Austin: U of Texas P. Duckert, Audrey. 1963. ...
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Papers by Kenneth Shields