Cowgill's law
Encyclopedia
Cowgill's law, named after Indo-Europeanist Warren Cowgill
, refers to two unrelated sound changes, one occurring in Proto-Greek and the other in Proto-Germanic.
(/r/, /l/, /m/, /n/) and a labial consonant
(including labiovelars), in either order.
Examples:
Note that when a labiovelar adjoins an /o/ affected by Cowgill's law, the new /u/ will cause the labiovelar to lose its labial component (as in núks and ónuks/ónukh-).
(2006) accepts it; Andrew Sihler
(1995) is noncommittal.
Examples are fairly few:
If it becomes generally accepted, the relative chronology of this law could have consequences for a possible reconstructed phonetic value of h₃. Since Germanic /k/ results from earlier PIE /g/, and since the change occurred before Grimm's law applied (according to Ringe), the resulting change would be actually h₃w > gʷ. This would have been more likely if h₃ was a voiced velar obstruent to begin with. If h₃ was a voiced labiovelar fricative as is occasionally suggested, the change would therefore have been: ɣʷw > ɡʷ.
Warren Cowgill
Warren Cowgill was a professor of linguistics at Yale University and the Encyclopædia Britannica’s authority on Indo-European linguistics. He was unusual among Indo-European linguists of his time in believing that Indo-European should be classified as a branch of Indo-Hittite, with Hittite as a...
, refers to two unrelated sound changes, one occurring in Proto-Greek and the other in Proto-Germanic.
Cowgill's law in Greek
In Proto-Greek, Cowgill's law says that a former /o/ vowel becomes /u/ between a resonantSonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
(/r/, /l/, /m/, /n/) and a labial consonant
Labial consonant
Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...
(including labiovelars), in either order.
Examples:
- núks "night" < PIEProto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
*nokʷts (cf. Lat. nox, Ved.Vedic SanskritVedic Sanskrit is an old Indo-Aryan language. It is an archaic form of Sanskrit, an early descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian. It is closely related to Avestan, the oldest preserved Iranian language...
nák < *nakts, Goth.Gothic languageGothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
nahts, Hitt.Hittite languageHittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
gen. sg. nekuz /nekʷts/) - phúllon "leaf" < PIEProto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
*bholyom (cf. Lat. folium) - múlē "mill" < PIEProto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
*mol-eh₂- (cf. Lat. molīna) - ónuks "nail" (stem ónukh-) < early PG *onokʷh- < PIEProto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
h₃nogʷh- (cf. OEOld English languageOld English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
nægl < PGerm *nag-laz)
Note that when a labiovelar adjoins an /o/ affected by Cowgill's law, the new /u/ will cause the labiovelar to lose its labial component (as in núks and ónuks/ónukh-).
Cowgill's law in Germanic
Cowgill's law in Germanic has no relation to Cowgill's law in Greek other than having been named after the same person. It says that a PIE laryngeal , and possibly , turns into /k/ in Proto-Germanic when directly preceded by a sonorant and followed by /w/. This law is still controversial, although increasingly accepted. Donald RingeDonald Ringe
Donald Ringe is an American linguist and Indo-Europeanist.He received Ph.D in linguistics at the Yale University in 1984 under the supervision of the late Warren Cowgill. He taught Classics at Bard College from 1983 to 1985, and since 1985 he has been on the Faculty in Linguistics at the...
(2006) accepts it; Andrew Sihler
Andrew Sihler
Andrew Littleton Sihler is an American linguist and comparative Indo-Europeanist.Sihler received his Bachelor of Arts cum laude in 1962 from Harvard College, where he studied Germanic languages, literature, and linguistics. He earned his Master of Arts from Yale in 1965...
(1995) is noncommittal.
Examples are fairly few:
- *kwikwaz "alive" < PIE *gʷih₃-wos (cf. Lat. vīvus)
- *unkw- "us two" (cf. Goth. unkis) < PIE *n̥h₃we (cf. Gk. nṓ; Ved. āvā́m acc. du. "us two" < *āva-ám)
- Possibly OE tācor "husband's brother" < PIE *dayh₂wer
If it becomes generally accepted, the relative chronology of this law could have consequences for a possible reconstructed phonetic value of h₃. Since Germanic /k/ results from earlier PIE /g/, and since the change occurred before Grimm's law applied (according to Ringe), the resulting change would be actually h₃w > gʷ. This would have been more likely if h₃ was a voiced velar obstruent to begin with. If h₃ was a voiced labiovelar fricative as is occasionally suggested, the change would therefore have been: ɣʷw > ɡʷ.