Stang's law

This article is about the sound law in Proto-Indo-European. For the accentual law in Proto-Slavic, seeIvšić's law.

Stang's lawis aProto-Indo-European(PIE)phonologicalrule named after the Norwegian linguistChristian Stang.

Overview

The law governs the word-final sequences of a vowel, followed by a semivowel (*yor*w) or alaryngeal(*h₁,*h₂or*h₃), followed by a nasal. According to the law these sequences are simplified such that laryngeals and semivowels are dropped, withcompensatory lengtheningof a preceding vowel.

This rule is usually cited in more restricted form as:*Vwm> *Vːmand*Vh₂m> *Vːm(*Vdenoting a vowel and*Vːa long vowel).

Often the rules*Vmm> *Vːmand also*Vyi> *Vːyare added:

• PIE*dyéwm'sky' (accusative singular) >*dyḗm> Sanskritdyā́m,acc.sg.ofdyaús,Latindiem(which served as the basis for Latindiēs'day'), Greek Ζῆν (Zên) (reformed after Homeric Greek to ΖῆναZêna,subsequently ΔίαDía), acc. of Ζεύς (Zeús)
• PIE*gʷowm'cow' (acc. sg.) >*gʷōm> Sanskritgā́m,acc. sg. ofgaús,Greek (Homeric and dialectal) βών (bṓn), acc. sg. of βοῦς (boûs) 'cow'
• acc. sg. of PIE*dom-'house' is*dṓm,not**dómm̥.
• acc. sg. of PIE*dʰoHn-éh₂'grain' afterlaryngeal colouringis the disyllabic*dʰoHnā́m,not trisyllabic**dʰoHnáh₂m̥> **dʰoHnā́m̥

See also

• Szemerényi's law