The invention of Greek: phonology, morphology, and
sociolinguistics
Andrew Garrett, Department of
Linguistics, UC Berkeley
5/13/03, 7pm, bldg. 460-301 (3rd floor linguistics dept.
building---note nonstandard date, place, and time!!)
I discuss some of the ramifications, both for the reconstruction of
Proto-Greek and our understanding of whether such a language existed,
of
the 20th century decipherment of Linear B and our growing understanding
of
Mycenaean Greek -- a dialect of Greek recorded some 500 years earlier
than
any other dialect. The linguistic facts per se are well known to
Mycenologists, Hellenists, and Indo-Europeanists but the implications
of
their overall profile have not been evaluated satisfactorily. Among the
broader questions to be addressed here, based fundamentally on an
interpretation of early Greek historical phonology and morphology, are
the
following:
(1) Is "Greek" a subgroup of Indo-European, and if so in what sense?
(2) Does Indo-European have the subgroups conventionally posited, and
if so
why?
(3) What sociolinguistic circumstances lead to a "family tree" effect
as
opposed to a "dialect continuum" effect?
(4) What is the proper implementation in linguistics of the notion
(borrowed from biology) of "punctuated equilibrium" (Dixon vs. Heath et
al.)? What are the small-scale sociolinguistic causes of this
large-scale
effect?
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