Evidence for laryngeal aspiration in Greek? Part I: The "recent" evidence

Abstract

Since de Saussure, H. Pedersen and Kurylowicz the Sanskrit (and Indo-Iranian) voiceless aspirates are considered to be the result from the combination of a plain voiceless plosive and a laryngeal (*h(2) according to most scholars), and, consequently, the existence of phonemic voiceless aspirates in PIE is no longer accepted. In more recent times, an evolution similar to that of Indo-Iranian has been assumed for Greek as well but the Greek situation is less convincing and has not been investigated as thoroughly as the Indo-Iranian branch. This article investigates the "recent" evidence in favour of the laryngeal aspiration in Greek (Peters 1993a and b, Werba 1996, Mayrhofer 2005, Matzinger 2005 and Vine 2006) and finds that most examples are not conclusive: either the reconstruction is not conclusive or there is an example under exactly the same circumstances that argues against aspiration. The older evidence (used by Sturtevant, Collinge, Hamp, Klingenschmitt and Isebaert) will be discussed in part 2.*