Proto-Indo-European_particles

Proto-Indo-European particles

Proto-Indo-European particles

Grammatical particles

The particles of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) have been reconstructed by modern linguists based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages.

This article contains characters used to write reconstructed Proto-Indo-European words (for an explanation of the notation, see Proto-Indo-European phonology). Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode combining characters and Latin characters.

Adverbs

Adverbs used as adpositions

Many particles could be used both as adverbs and postpositions. This is similar to modern languages; compare English He is above in the attic (adverb) and The bird is above the house (preposition). The postpositions became prepositions in the daughter languages except Anatolian, Indo-Iranian and Sabellic; some of the other branches such as Latin and Greek preserve postpositions vestigially.[1]

Reflexes, or descendants of the PIE reconstructed forms in its daughter languages, include the following.

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Untranslated reflexes have the same meaning as the PIE word.

In the following languages, two reflexes separated by a slash mean:

Negating prefixes (privatives)

Two privatives can be reconstructed, *ne and *mē, the latter only used for negative commands. The privative prefix *n̥- is likely the zero grade of *ne.

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Adverbs derived from adjectives

Adverbs derived from adjectives (like English bold-ly, beautiful-ly) arguably cannot be classified as particles. In Proto-Indo-European, these are simply case forms of adjectives and thus better classified as nouns. An example is *meǵh₂ "greatly", a nominative-accusative singular.[7]

Conjunctions

The following conjunctions can be reconstructed:[8]

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†Placed after the joined word, as in Latin Senatus populus-que Romanus ("Senate and people of Rome"), -que joining senatus and populus.

Interjections

There is only one PIE interjection that can be securely reconstructed; the second is uncertain.

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Notes

  1. [1]
    Fortson (2004:133–4)
  2. [2]
    Fortson (2004:134)
  3. [3]
    Blažek : Indo-European Prepositions and Related Words (2005)
  4. [4]
    Fortson (2004:239)
  5. [5]
    Beekes
  6. [6]
    Fortson (2004:133)
  7. [7]
    Fortson (2004:132–3)
  8. [8]
    Fortson (2004:134–5)
  9. [9]
    Schenk (1998:&#91, page needed&#93, )

References

  • Dunkel, George E (2014), Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, ISBN 978-3-8253-5926-3
  • Fortson, Benjamin W. IV (2004), Indo-European Language and Culture, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-4051-0316-7
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