The glottalic model of Proto-Indo-European consonantism: re-igniting the dialog
The glottalic model of Proto-Indo-European consonantism: re-igniting the dialog

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to re-ignite a discussion concerning the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European consonant system. The article begins with a discussion of the traditional reconstruction, starting with August Schleicher (1861), continuing on with Karl Brugmann (1904), and ending with current views, as exemplified in the work of James Clackson (2007), Benjamin Fortson (2010), Calvert Watkins (1998), and Winfred P. Lehmann (1952). It then discusses a number of well-known problem areas with the traditional reconstruction and suggests that a better reconstruction is the Glottalic Model of Proto-Indo-European consonantism originally proposed by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze and Vjačeslav V. Ivanov (1972 and 1973), on the one hand, and Paul J. Hopper (1973), on the other. Next, several criticisms of the Glottalic Model are discussed and fully refuted. The article ends with trajectories of the revised Proto-Indo-European consonant system in the principal Indo-European daughter languages. In sum, the traditional reconstruction needs to be abandoned in favor of the Glottalic Model.

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