Szemerényi Oswald J.L. Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics

Clarendon Press, 1996. — 388 p.This work was conceived by the publishers as an introduction to comparative Indo-European linguistics, and the author has carried out their intention to the best of his ability. The introductory chapters 1-3 are of a more general nature, but the main part provides a comparative phonology and morphology of the Indo-European languages.
In the treatment of problems, importance has been attached to making a clear distinction between the Indo-European situation as reconstructed by the comparative method and the diachronic interpretation of this situation. In this way it was hoped to ensure that the student would always keep these two problems separate, and train himself not to tackle the second until the first was resolved.
The work is envisaged as a genuine introduction to the subject. For this reason every effort has been made to set out facts, problems, and conclusions as simply as possible. Even a beginner, however, should be put in a position to acquaint himself with the intricacies of the various problems. In contrast to the practice of some well-known introductions, which provide only a summary bibliography at the end, references to further literature are given throughout, not in footnotes but at the end of each section. Since Indo-European linguistics is a world-wide discipline cultivated in many countries, I have sought to include everything of importance available to me, especially recent and contemporary literature, while for the earlier period the reader is for the most part referred to the bibliographical collections in older standard works.