2016/10/24 by Alwin Kloekhorst · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Linguistics and language evolution #Ancient Near East History #Linguistics and Cultural Studies
paper · doi:10.1515/if-2016-0013
openalex publication_date 2016/10/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
Abstract This article argues that the phonetic distinction between the Hittite fortis and lenis stops was not one of voice, but rather one of length, and that this distinction must have been present in Proto-Anatolian as well. On the basis of typological and comparative considerations it is argued that the Proto-Anatolian stop system cannot have developed from the stop system that is traditionally reconstructed for the Proto-Indo-European mother language and in which voice is the basic distinction. Instead, the relationship must have been the other way around: the voice distinction of PIE is a younger development of the length distinction as found in the Proto-Anatolian stop system. This relationship can only be accounted for within the context of the Indo-Hittite hypothesis, and therefore forms a new argument in favor of it.