Lehmann Winfred P. Residues of Pre-Indo-European Active Structure and their Implications for the Relationships among the Dialects

Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck, 1995 – (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft. Vorträge und Kleinere Schriften, 61) – 74 S. – ISBN 3-85-124-649-7.Inhalt: Introduction: Determination of the relationships among the early dialects. Use of linguistic, archeological and textual data to determine the early history of the dialects. Three procedures for examining the early relationships. Brief summary of the central linguistic approaches and their conclusions in the corse of Indo-European studies: Heavy reliance on morphological charactteristics. Increased attention to the lexicon. Attention to syntax as an independent component. Examinations of the overall structure of languages in accordance with their treatment of sematic sets: Summary of the characteristics of active languages. Pre-Indo-European as an active language. Linguistic methodology, followed by an explanation of the use of m to mark of the first person singular in verbs and at the same time the accusative rather than the nominative of the first person pronoun: The development of the comparative method. The long-standing treatment of morphology by structure. The development of a structural approach in the treatment of syntax. Summary of the basis of established theory pertinent for linguistics as opposed to imported theory. Recognition of a semantics-based system, referred to by Soviet linguists as the content(ive) system: Clarification in the verb system. Clarification in the nominal system. Clarification in the lexicon. Evaluation of the use of -m as pronominal marker. Additional examples of clarification of problems solved by assuming Pre-Indo-European to fave had active structure. Bases for suggestion on the relationships between the early dialects. Bases for a new approach to interpreting the relations among the early dialects: Impersonal verbs. The active and the stative sub-systems. Active language residues in Germanic: An explanation of the patterning in the two sets of strong verbs. The weak verb preterite: The preterite-presents. The noun. The adjective. Possessive and reflexive pronouns. Further active language residues and their modifications in the dialects: Mantenaince of the impersonal verbs in the western dialects. Verbal constructions to represent possession and the passive. Nominal constructions to indicate oblique cases. Syntactic characteristics supporting the assumption of early departure of the western socio-linguistic groups from the central Indo-European community. Implications for other characteristics in the early dialects. Reexamination of the data in accordance with our improved understanding of language. Reference.