Proto-Indo-Iranian language
Proto-Indo-Iranian or Proto-Indo-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian/Indo-Iranic branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd millennium BCE, and are often connected with the Sintashta culture of the Eurasian Steppe and the early Andronovo archaeological horizon.
Proto-Indo-Iranian was a satem language, likely removed less than a millennium from its ancestor, the late Proto-Indo-European language, and in turn removed less than a millennium from the Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda, its descendant. It is the ancestor of the Indo-Aryan languages, the Iranian languages, and the Nuristani languages.
Descriptive phonology
In addition to the vowels, *H, and *r̥ could function as the syllabic core.Two palatal series
Proto-Indo-Iranian is hypothesized to have contained two series of stops or affricates in the palatal to postalveolar region. The phonetic nature of this contrast is not clear, and hence they are usually referred to as the primary or first series and the second or secondary series.The following table shows the most common reflexes of the two series :
| PII | Sanskrit | Proto-Iranian | Avestan | Old Persian | Nuristani |
| *ć | ś | *ts | s | θ | ċ / š |
| *ȷ́ | j | *dz | z | d | j / z |
| *ȷ́ʰ | h | *dz | z | d | j / z |
| *č | c | *č | č | č | č |
| *ǰ | j | *ǰ | ǰ | ǰ | ǰ / ž |
| *ǰʰ | h | *ǰ | ǰ | ǰ | ǰ / ž |
Laryngeal
Proto-Indo-European is usually hypothesized to have had three to four laryngeal consonants, each of which could occur in either syllabic or non-syllabic positions. In Proto-Indo-Iranian, the laryngeals merged as one phoneme /*H/. Beekes suggests that some instances of this /*H/ survived into Rigvedic Sanskrit and Avestan as unwritten glottal stops as evidenced by metrics.Accent
Like Proto-Indo-European and Vedic Sanskrit, Proto-Indo-Iranian had a pitch accent system similar to present-day Japanese, conventionally indicated by an acute accent over the accented vowel.Historical phonology
The most distinctive phonological change separating Proto-Indo-Iranian from Proto-Indo-European is the collapse of the ablauting vowels *e, *o, *a into a single vowel, Proto-Indo-Iranian *a. Grassmann's law, Bartholomae's law, and the Ruki sound law were also complete in Proto-Indo-Iranian.A fuller list of some of the hypothesized sound changes from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Indo-Iranian follows:
- The Satem shift, consisting of two sets of related changes. The PIE palatals *ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ are fronted or affricated, eventually resulting in PII *ć, *ȷ́, *ȷ́ʰ, while the PIE labiovelars *kʷ *gʷ *gʷʰ merge with the velars *k *g *gʰ.
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *ćatám | śatám | satəm | centum | 'hundred' | |
| *ȷ́ā́nu | jā́nu | zānu | genū | 'knee' | |
| *ȷ́ʰimás | himá | ziiā̊ | hiems | 'winter' / 'snow' | |
| *kás | kás | ka | quis | 'who?, what?' | |
| *gā́wš | gaus | gao | bōs | 'cow' | |
| *gʰarmás | gharmás | garəma | formus | 'warmth, heat' |
- The PIE liquids merge as .
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *ćráwas | śrávas | srauua | clueō | 'fame, honour, word' | |
| *wŕ̥kas | vŕ̥kas | vəhrka | lupus | 'wolf' |
- The PIE syllabic nasals merge with *a.
| PIE | pre-PII | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *dáĉm̥ | *dáća | dáśa | dasā | decem | 'ten' | |
| *gm̥tás | *gatás | gatá | gata | ventus | 'come, gone' | |
| *n̥bʰrás | *abʰrás | abhrá | aβra | imber | 'rain, cloud' |
- Bartholomae's law: an aspirate immediately followed by a voiceless consonant becomes voiced stop + voiced aspirate. In addition, dʰ + t > dᶻdʰ.
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | English |
| *ubdʰás | sámubdha | ubdaēna | 'woven' / 'made of woven material' | |
| *wr̥dᶻdʰás | vr̥ddʰá | vərəzda | 'grown, mature' | |
| *dáwgdʰi | dógdhi | *daogdi | 'to milk' |
- The Ruki rule: *s is retracted to *š when immediately following a liquid, a high vowel, a PIE velar or the syllabic laryngeal *H̥. Its allophone *z likewise becomes *ž.
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *wišás | víṣas | viša | vīrus | 'poison, venom' | |
| *ćH̥šam | aśiṣam | sīšā | 'teach!' | ||
| *ȷ́áwšati | jóṣati | zaošō | gustus | 'to like, taste' | |
| *kšáp- | kṣáp- | xšap- | 'darkness' | ||
| *plúšiš | plúṣi | *fruši | pūlex | 'flea, noxious insect' | |
| *niždás | nīḷá/nīḍá | *nižda | nīdus | 'nest' |
- Before a dental occlusive, *ĉ becomes *š and *ĵ becomes *ž. *ĵʰ also becomes *ž, with aspiration of the occlusive.
| PIE | pre-PII | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *Haĉtā́ | *Haštā́ | aṣṭá | ašta | octō | 'eight' | |
| *dr̥ĉtás | *dr̥štás | dr̥ṣṭá | dərəšta | 'seen, visible, apparent' | ||
| *mr̥ĵd- | *mr̥žd- | mr̥ḷ-/mr̥ḍ- | mərəžd- | 'to forgive, pardon' | ||
| *uĵdʰás | *uždʰás | ūḍhá | *užda | vector | 'carried' |
- The sequence *ĉš was simplified to *šš.
| PIE | pre-PII | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *Háĉšas | *Háššas | ákṣa | aša | axis | 'axle, shoulder' |
- The "second palatalization" or "law of palatals": *k *g *gʰ develop palatal allophones *č *ǰ *ǰʰ before the front vowels *i, *e. through an intermediate *kʲ *gʲ *gʲʰ.
| PIE | pre-PII | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *-kʲa | *-ča | -ca | -ča | -que | 'and' | |
| *gʲiHwás | *ǰiHwás | jīvás | juuō | vīvus | 'alive, living' | |
| *gʲʰánti | *ǰʰánti | hánti | jaiṇti | -fendit | 'slays' |
- Brugmann's law: *o in an open syllable lengthens to *ō.
| PIE | pre-PII | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *daHtā́rm̥ | *daHtā́ram | dātā́ram | dātārəm | datōrem | 'giver' |
- The vowels *e *o merge with *a. Similarly, *ē, *ō merge with *ā. This has the effect of giving full phonemic status to the second palatal series *č *ǰ *ǰʰ.
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *dádaHti | dádāti | dadāiti | dat | 'to give' | |
| *Hdánts | dant | dantan | dēns | 'tooth' | |
| *bʰráHtā | bhrā́tr̥ | brātar | frāter | 'brother' | |
| *wā́kš | vā́k | vāxš | vōx | 'voice' |
- In certain positions, laryngeals were vocalized to *i. This preceded the second palatalization.
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *pitráy | pitré | piθrē | patrī | 'father' |
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | English |
| *-madʰHi | -mahi | -maidī/-maiδi |
- The Indo-European laryngeals all merged into one phoneme *H, which may have been a glottal stop. This was probably contemporary with the merging of *e and *o with *a.
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | Latin | English |
| *pHtā́ | pitā́ | ptā | pater | 'father' |
- According to Lubotsky's Law, *H disappeared when followed by a voiced nonaspirated stop and another consonant:
| PIE | PII | Sanskrit | Avestan | English |
| *bʰáǰati | bhájati | bažat̰ | 'to divide, distribute' |