Phonetic correspondence
According correspondence ( English sound correspondence ) is a terminus of the historical comparative linguistics . It describes a series of equivalent sounds in genetically related languages that have resulted from a particular sound in the proto- language of this language family .
Indo-European phonetic equivalents
As an example, the sound equivalents of some important Indo-European languages (adapted from Watkins 2000, phonetic representation).
| Indo-European | * p | * t | * k | * k w | * b | * d | *G | * g w | *bra | * ie | * gh | * g w h | * s |
| Hittite | p | t | k | ku | p | t | k | ku | p | t | k | ku | s |
| Sanskrit | p | t | ś | k / c | b | d | j | g / j | bra | ie | H | gh / h | s / ṣ |
| Avestisch | p | t | s | k / c | b | d | z | g / j | b | d | z | g / j | H |
| Old Church Slavonic | p | t | s | k / č / c | b | d | z | g / ž / z | b | d | z | g / ž / z | s |
| Lithuanian | p | t | š | k | d | d | ž | G | d | d | ž | G | s |
| Armenian | H | th | s | kh | p | t | c | k | b | d | j | G | H |
| Greek | p | t | k | p / t / k | b | d | G | b / d / g | ph | th | kh | ph / th / kh | H |
| Latin | p | t | k | qu | b | d | G | v | f | f | H | f | s |
| Old Irish | - | t | c | c | b | d | G | b | b | d | G | b | s |
| Gothic | f | th | H | hw / w | p | t | k | q | b | d | G | b / g | s |
| Old High German | f | d | H | hw / w | p / pf | z | k | qu | b | t / d | G | b / g | s |
Sino-Tibetan phonetic equivalents
A second example shows the sound equivalent of initial consonants of the word root in some Sino-Tibetan languages (based on Benedict 1972):
| Sinotibian | * p | * t | * k | * b | * d | *G | * ts | * dz | * s | * e.g. | *H |
| Tibetan | p (h) | t (h) | k (h) | b | d | G | ts (h) | dz | s | z | H |
| Jingpho | p (h), b | t (h), d | k (h), g | b, p (h) | d, t (h) | g, k (h) | ts, dz | dz, ts | s | z | O |
| Burmese | p (h) | t (h) | k (h) | p | t | k | ts (h) | ts | s | s | H |
| Garo | p (h), b | t (h), d | k (h), g | b, p (h) | d, t (h) | g, k (h) | s, ts (h) | ts (h) | th | s | O |
| Mizo | p (h) | t (h) | k (h) | b | d | k | s | f | th | f | H |
The sounds after the comma are secondary developments. The alternate aspiration is not phonemic.
From the phonetic correspondence to the phonetic law
The phonemes of the proto- language can be reconstructed from the sound correspondences in genetically related languages, which are systematically obtained from as many word equations as possible , and finally the sound laws of this language family can be derived, e.g. B. Indo-European proto-language / * p / becomes / h / in Armenian, / f / in Old High German and is omitted in Old Irish.
literature
- Watkins, Calvert: The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Houghton Mifflin, Boston - New York 2000.
- Benedict, Paul K .: Sino-Tibetan. A Conspectus. Cambridge University Press 1972. ISBN 978-0-521-11807-1 .
