On the Greek reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European labiovelars

Abstract

The present article investigates the problem of the reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European labiovelars in Ancient Greek. There have been numerous discussions of the issue, both concerning the origin of such a set of changes and also about the precise formulation of its outcomes and possible analogical changes. The data is drawn from a variety of Greek dialects which reflect the different outcomes of the prehistoric labiovelars. It is discussed at length whether the hypothesis proposed in 1881 that the outcome of the voiced labiovelar */gw/ in Greek was /d/ before the front vowels (both /i/ and /e/ ) is supported by the attested data. It is concluded that such a view would require too many analogical changes and, therefore, that it is better to assume different outcomes before /i/ and /e/ respectively. Furthermore, it is pointed out that the overall picture of the development of labiovelars in Greek requires a new and thorough investigation of the complete material presented in the particular dialects.