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| Sound change andalternation |
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Inlinguistics, theIndo-European ablaut (/ˈæblaʊt/AB-lowt, fromGermanAblautpronounced[ˈaplaʊt]) is a system ofapophony (regularvowel variations) in theProto-Indo-European language (PIE).
An example of ablaut in English is thestrong verbsing, sang, sung and its related nounsong, a paradigm inherited directly from the Proto-Indo-European stage of the language. Traces of ablaut are found in all modernIndo-European languages, though its prevalence varies greatly.[1][2]
The phenomenon of Indo-European ablaut was first recorded bySanskrit grammarians in the laterVedic period (roughly 8th century BCE), and was codified byPāṇini in hisAṣṭādhyāyī (4th century BCE), where the termsguṇa andvṛddhi were used to describe the phenomena now known respectively as thefull grade andlengthened grade.[3][4][5]
In the context of European languages, the phenomenon was first described in the early 18th century by the Dutch linguistLambert ten Kate, in his bookGemeenschap tussen de Gottische spraeke en de Nederduytsche ("Common aspects of theGothic andDutch languages", 1710).[6][7]
The termablaut is borrowed from German, and derives from the nounLaut "sound", and the prefixab-, which indicates movement downwards or away, or deviation from a norm; thus the literal meaning is "sound reduction".[8][9] It was coined in this sense in 1819 by the German linguistJacob Grimm in hisDeutsche Grammatik,[10] though the word had been used before him.[a] In particular, the 17th-century grammarianSchottelius had used the word negatively to suggest that German verbs lacked the sophistication of the classics,[b] but there is no hint of this disdain in Grimm or in modern scholarly usage.In English, the term became established through the 1845 translation ofBopp'sComparative Grammar.[c]
Vowel gradation is any vowel difference between two related words (such asphotograph [ˈfoʊtəgrɑːf] andphotography [fəˈtɒgrəfi]) or two forms of the same word (such asman andmen). The difference does not need to be indicated in the spelling. There are many kinds of vowel gradation in English and other languages, which are discussed generally in the articleapophony. Some involve a variation in vowel length (quantitative gradation:photograph /photography shows reduction of the first vowel to aschwa), others in vowel coloring (qualitative gradation:man /men) and others the complete disappearance of a vowel (reduction to zero:could not →couldn't).
For the study of European languages, one of the most important instances of vowel gradation is the Indo-European ablaut, remnants of which can be seen in the English verbsride,rode,ridden, orfly,flew,flown. For simply learning English grammar, it is enough to note that these verbs areirregular, but understanding why they have unusual forms that seem irregular (and indeed why they are actually perfectly regular within their own terms) requires an understanding of the grammar of thereconstructed proto-language.
Ablaut is the oldest and most extensive single source of vowel gradation in the Indo-European languages and must be distinguished clearly from other forms of gradation, which developed later, such asGermanic umlaut (man /men,goose /geese,long /length) or the results of modern English word-stress patterns (man /woman,photograph /photography). Confusingly, in some contexts, the terms 'ablaut', 'vowel gradation', 'apophony' and 'vowel alternation' are used synonymously, especially insynchronic comparisons, buthistorical linguists prefer to keep 'ablaut' for the specific Indo-European phenomenon, which is the meaning intended by the linguists who first coined the word.
In Proto-Indo-European, the basic, inherent vowel of most syllables was a shorte.Ablaut is the name of the process whereby this shorte changed, becoming shorto, longē, longō or sometimes disappearing entirely to leave no vowel at all.
Thus, ablaut results in the alternation of the following sounds:
| zero | short | long |
|---|---|---|
| ∅ | e | ē |
| o | ō |
If a syllable had a shorte, it is said to be in the "e-grade" or "full grade". When it had no vowel, it is said to be in the "zero grade". Syllables with long vowels are said to be in "lengthened grade". (When thee-grade or theo-grade is referred to, the short vowel forms are meant.)
A classic example of the five grades of ablaut in a single root is provided by the different case forms of two closely related Greek words. In the following table, an acute accent (´) marks the syllable carrying the word stress; a macron (¯) marks long vowels and the syllable inbold is the one illustrating the different vowel gradations.
| Ablaut grade | PIE (reconstruction) | Greek | Greek (transliterated) | English translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e-grade or full grade | *ph2-tér-m̥ | πα-τέρ-α | pa-tér-a | "father" (noun, accusative) |
| lengthened e-grade | *ph2-tḗr | πα-τήρ | pa-tḗr | "father" (noun, nominative) |
| zero-grade | *ph2-tr-és | πα-τρ-ός | pa-tr-ós | "father's" (noun, genitive) |
| o-grade | *n̥-péh2-tor-m̥ | ἀ-πά-τορ-α | a-pá-tor-a | "fatherless" (adjective, accusative) |
| lengthened o-grade | *n̥-péh2-tōr | ἀ-πά-τωρ | a-pá-tōr | "fatherless" (adjective, nominative) |
In this unusually neat example, the following can be seen:
As with most reconstructions, however, scholars differ about the details of this example.
One way to think of this system is to suppose that Proto-Indo-European originally had only one vowel, shorte, and over time, it changed according to phonetic context, so the language started to develop a more complex vowel system. Thus, it has often been speculated that an original e-grade underwent two changes in some phonetic environments: under certain circumstances, it changed too (the o-grade) and in others, it disappeared entirely (the zero-grade).
However, that is not certain: the phonetic conditions that controlled ablaut have never been determined, and the position of the word stress may not have been a key factor at all.[citation needed] There are many counterexamples to the proposed rules:*deywós and its nominative plural*deywóes show pretonic and posttonic e-grade, respectively, and*wĺ̥kʷos has an accented zero grade.
Many examples of lengthened grades, including those listed above, are not directly conditioned by ablaut. Instead, they are a result of sound changes likeSzemerényi's law andStang's law, which causedcompensatory lengthening of originally short vowels. In the examples above, Szemerényi's law affected the older sequences *ph2-tér-s and *n̥-péh2-tor-s, changing them to *ph2-tḗr and *n̥-péh2-tōr. Thus, these forms were originally in the regular, unlengthened e-grade and o-grade. Such lengthened vowels were, however, latergrammaticalised and spread to other words in which the change did not occur.
Nevertheless, there are examples of true lengthened grades, in which shorte alternates with longē. Examples are the verbs with"Narten" inflection, and nouns like*mḗh₁-n̥s "moon", genitive*méh₁-n̥s-os. Alternations of this type were rare, however, and thee ~o ~∅ alternation was the most common by far. The longō grade was rarer still and may not have actually been a part of the ablaut system at all.
The zero grade ofablaut may appear difficult for speakers of English. In the case of *ph2trés, which may already have been pronounced something like[pɐtrés], it is not difficult to imagine it as a contraction of an older *ph2terés, pronounced perhaps[pɐterés], as this combination of consonants and vowels would be possible in English as well. In other cases, however, the absence of a vowel strikes the speaker of a modern western European language as unpronounceable.
To understand, one must be aware that there were a number of sounds that were consonants in principle but could operate in ways analogous to vowels: the four syllabic sonorants, the threelaryngeals and the two semi-vowels:
Whenu andi came in postvocalic positions, the result was a diphthong. Ablaut is nevertheless regular and looks like this:
| e-grade | o-grade | zero-grade |
|---|---|---|
| ey | oy | i |
| ew | ow | u |
Thus, any of these could replace the ablaut vowel when it was reduced to the zero-grade: the pattern CVrC (for example,*bʰergʰ-) could become CrC (*bʰr̥gʰ-).
However, not every PIE syllable was capable of forming a zero grade; some consonant structures inhibited it in particular cases, or completely. Thus, for example, although thepreterite plural of a Germanic strong verb (see below) is derived from the zero grade, classes 4 and 5 have instead vowels representing the lengthened e-grade, as the stems of these verbs could not have sustained a zero grade in this position.[citation needed]
Zero grade is said to be frompre-Proto-Indo-Europeansyncope in unaccented syllables,[citation needed] but in some cases the lack of accent does not cause zero grade:*deywó-, nominative plural*-es "god". There does not seem to be a rule governing the unaccented syllables that take zero grade and the ones that take stronger grades.[citation needed]
It is still a matter of debate whether PIE had an original a-vowel at all. In later PIE, the disappearance of the laryngeal h2 could leave an a-colouring and this may explain all occurrences ofa in later PIE. However, some argue controversially that the e-grade could sometimes be replaced by an a-grade without the influence of a laryngeal, which might help to explain the vowels in class 6Germanic verbs, for example.
Although PIE had only this one, basically regular, ablaut sequence, the development in the daughter languages is frequently far more complicated, and few reflect the original system as neatly as Greek. Various factors, such asvowel harmony, assimilation with nasals, or the effect of the presence of laryngeals in the Indo-European (IE) roots as well as their subsequent loss in most daughter languages, mean that a language may have several different vowels representing a single vowel in the parent language.
In particular, the zero grade was often subject to modification from changes in the pronunciation of syllabic sonorants. For example, in Germanic, syllabic sonorants acquired anepenthetic-u-, thus converting the original zero grade to a new "u-grade" in many words. Thus, while ablaut survives in some form in all Indo-European languages, it became progressively less systematic over time.
Ablaut explains vowel differences between related words of the same language. For example:
Ablaut also explains vowel differences between cognates in different languages.
For the English-speaking non-specialist, a good reference work for quick information on IE roots, including the difference ofablaut grade behind related lexemes, isWatkins (2000).[14] (Note that in discussions of lexis, Indo-European roots are normally cited in the e-grade, without any inflections.)
In PIE, there were already ablaut differences within the paradigms of verbs and nouns. These were not the main markers of grammatical form, since the inflection system served this purpose, but they must have been significant secondary markers.
An example of ablaut in the paradigm of the noun in PIE can be found in*pértus, from which the English wordsford and (via Latin)port are derived (both via the zero-grade stem*pr̥t-).
| root (p-r) | suffix (t-u) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *pér-tu-s | e-grade | zero-grade |
| Accusative | *pér-tu-m | e-grade | zero-grade |
| Genitive | *pr̥-téw-s | zero-grade | e-grade |
| Dative | *pr̥-téw-ey | zero-grade | e-grade |
An example in a verb is *bʰeydʰ- "to wait" (cf. "bide").
| e-grade | |||
| Perfect (third-person singular) | *bʰe-bʰóydʰ-e | o-grade | (notereduplicating prefix) |
| Perfect (third plural) | *bʰe-bʰidʰ-ḗr | zero-grade | (note reduplicating prefix) |
In the daughter languages, these came to be important markers of grammatical distinctions. The vowel change in the Germanic strong verb, for example, is the direct descendant of that seen in the Indo-European verb paradigm. Examples in modern English are the following:
| Infinitive | Preterite | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| sing | sang | sung |
| give | gave | given |
| drive | drove | driven |
| break | broke | broken |
It was in this context of Germanic verbs thatablaut was first described, and this is still what most people primarily associate with the phenomenon. A fuller description ofablaut operating in English, German and Dutch verbs and of the historical factors governing these can be found at the articleGermanic strong verb.
The same phenomenon is displayed in the verb tables ofLatin,Ancient Greek andSanskrit. Examples ofablaut as a grammatical marker in Latin are the vowel changes in the perfect stem of verbs.
| Present tense | Perfect | ||
| agō | ēgī | "to do" | |
| videō | vīdī | "to see" | (vowel lengthening) |
| sedeō | sēdī | "to sit" | (vowel lengthening) |
Ablaut can often explain apparently random irregularities. For example, the verb "to be" in Latin has the formsest (he is) andsunt (they are). The equivalent forms in German are very similar:ist andsind. The same forms were present inProto-Slavic:[15]*estь and*sǫtь, and developed into e.g. Polishjest andsą.
The difference between singular and plural in these languages is easily explained: the PIE root is*h1es-. In the singular, the stem is stressed, so it remains in the e-grade, and it takes the inflection-ti. In the plural, however, the inflection-énti was stressed, causing the stem to reduce to the zero grade:*h1es-énti →*h1s-énti. See main article:Indo-European copula.
Some of the morphological functions of the various grades are as follows:
e-grade:
o-grade:
zero-grade:
lengthened grade:
Many examples of lengthened-grade roots in the daughter languages are actually caused by the effect oflaryngeals and ofSzemerényi's law andStang's law, which operated within Indo-European times.