Description
Book SynopsisThe East Baltic languages are well known for their conservative phonology as compared to other Indo-European languages, which has led to a stereotype that the Balts developed in isolation without much contact with other speech communities. This book challenges that view, taking a deep dive into the East Baltic lexicon and peeling away the layers of prehistoric borrowings in the process. As well as significant contact events with known languages, the lexicon also reveals evidence of contact with unattested languages from which previous populations must have shifted.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Tables Symbols and Abbreviations Data Sources and Conventions Introduction Part 1 Contacts with Known Languages 1 Baltic–Slavic Contacts 1.1 Early Slavic → Baltic Loans 1.2 Early Baltic → Slavic Loans? 2 Early Germanic → Baltic Loans 3 Baltic → Finnic Borrowings 3.1 Preliminaries 3.2 Baltic Loanwords with an IE Etymology 3.3 Analysis of Sound Substitutions 3.4 Loans from Proto-Finnic to Proto-Baltic? 3.5 Common Loans from Unknown Sources? 3.6 Analysis of Contact Relationship 4 Loanwords into Other Uralic Languages 4.1 Sámi 4.2 Mordvin 4.3 Mari 4.4 Permic 4.5 Conclusion Part 2 Contacts with Unknown Languages 5 Introduction 5.1 Research History 5.2 Methodological Considerations 5.3 Excursus: Illegal Root Structures 5.4 Preliminaries 6 Consonantism 6.1 ‘Nasalization’, * ∞ * 6.2 Voicing Alternations 6.3 Sibilant Clusters 6.4 Other Irregularities 7 Vocalism 7.1 Initial Vowels 7.2 Alternations between Front and Back Vowels 7.3 Alternations between Low and High Vowels 7.4 Alternations between Monophthongs and Diphthongs 7.5 Length Alternations 7.6 IE *a 8 Analysis 8.1 Semantics 8.2 Stratification Conclusion Bibliography Index of Languages
