Mann Stuart E. Armenian and Indo-European (Historical Phonology)

Luzac & Co., 1963. — 252 p.The present work attempts to fill a longstanding gap in Indo-European linguistics. Armenian is, of course, an essential ingredient of prototype Indo-European, the basis of all comparative study within the field. A valid reconstruction of this prototype can be achieved only by using all the evidence available, and by applying to it the strict rules of linguistics. A copious lexique and an inflected grammar clearly make Armenian an essential part of the final reconstruction. But whereas the languages that are traditionally studied in this connexion usually display a phonology which is relatively transparent, so that lexical, if not grammatical, prototypes can easily be reconstructed, this is not so of Armenian, a language possessing a phonology that is bizarre to the point of intractability.