Review and comments on:

Evidence that most Indo-European Lexical

reconstructions are artefacts of the linguistic method
of analysis
Angela Marcantonio
University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’

Abstract:
A typical book on Indo-European linguistics takes for granted that the evidence for the Indo-European
family tree is ‘obvious’ or ‘compelling’. In more specialist research books, one finds a focus on how
to ‘fit’ the data to the model. The earliest example of this was Verner, who famously described
‘exceptions’ to Grimm’s Law. Verner modified the model by introducing ‘contextual specifications’,
thus converting the exceptions into ‘apparent exceptions’. Over the years, the counter-evidence to the
model has been ‘explained away’ with similar processes, so that today one can find very little direct
counter-evidence to the model. Here I examine this process critically. I ask if the linguistic method has
become circular – in other words, I ask “Have we fitted the data to the model, or have we made the
model so flexible that it can fit almost any data?”

1. Introduction
1. 1. The circularity issue

The objective of this chapter is to address the general issue of the flexibility, and related risk of
circularity which is embedded into the comparative method with the purpose of verifying whether, and
to which extent, these weaknesses may have a negative impact on the results it yields -- in this case,
specifically, the I-E comparative corpus -- and, therefore (arguably) on the I-E theory as a whole.
Following the results of the investigation, I shall argue that the great majority of the conventionally
stated I-E sound laws lack statistical significance and that, as a consequence, most of the conventionally
established correspondences (within a chosen corpus) are, in fact, not correspondences, but similarities,
most probably ‘chance resemblances’.
***
AF: In other words this conclusion, if accepted, would mean that I-E languages are *not* related and
that the word “Indo-European” does not mean anything. It would be interesting to know what makes the
IE languages Indo-European according to Marcantonio. It would seem that they are IE because of some
arbitrary unsupported decree and not on account of what they actually share.
***

Among the weaknesses1 embedded in the comparative method, that of circularity has since long been
identified, and can be defined as follows (see also Fox2 [1995]). ‘Circularity’ is where we:

a) assume that a set of words are of I-E origin

b) make a reconstruction of the origin and history of the words in question through the (assumed)
sound-changes associated with this history (on the assumption that the words are of I-E origin)
c) observe that the words match the reconstruction
d) conclude that the words under comparison are of I-E origin because they match the reconstruction

1
As to the issue of the scientific reliability of the Comparative Method, there is no room here to give a comprehensive account
of this long-standing debate, but see Introduction in this volume and related bibliography; see also Koerner (1989) and Salmons
& Joseph (eds, 1998).
2
As Fox (1995: 63) puts it: “An inevitable problem is that of circularity: it is difficult to avoid some version of the vicious
circle that results from assuming that forms are cognate because they can be reconstructed with the same proto-phoneme, where
the proto-phoneme is itself the result of assuming that they are cognate”.
This is a circular argument because our conclusions depend on the original assumption -- it would be
different if, for example, we had assumed that the words under examination were of different origin,
belonging to different language families and then, during the reconstruction process, using the stated
methods and the relevant data, we might have come to a conclusion different from the initial
assumption. This type of circularity, in turn, stems (also) from the fact that the original choice of the
languages to compare is, by its very nature, based on intuitive and often subjective judgments --these in
turn being often influenced, or even dictated, by historical and socio-cultural factors.
***
AF: Several languages: Celtic, Anatolian, Tocharian, have been integrated as Indo-European because
they satisfactorily compare with the other languages. To be Indo-European is an *output* of the method
and not a premice. There is no circularity. In addition languages are not compared to a reconstruction.
They are compared directly to one another. The reconstructions are a synthesis of the process of
comparison. They are an *output* and not a given.This description of the process of comparison is
absurd. It confuses conclusions and output with data.
***

That the risk in question is a real, concrete one –and not just a theoretical possibility --can be shown
with an equally concrete example: the issue of the well known correlations existing between Hungarian
(traditionally classified as ‘Uralic’) and Turkic (traditionally classified as ‘Altaic’). These correlations
are traditionally explained as ‘borrowed’, this being in turn the effect of long lasting, intense contacts
between the early ‘magyar’ tribes and Turkic tribes (after the magyars split off from the rest of the
Uralic proto-community).
However, there is no ‘independent evidence’ to support the thesis of this centuries-long
cohabitation, this ‘symbiosis’ (as is usually referred to in the literature) and, therefore, of the ensuing
borrowing, either from history, or archaeology, or anthropology (let alone the thesis of the splitting off
from the rest of the Uralic proto-community). On the contrary, the symbiosis in question is ‘assumed’
only on the basis of the intense ‘borrowing’. Thus, the whole argument represents a classical example of
vicious circle.
***
AF: In my opinion, the Turkic loanwords of Hungarian can certainly be traced back to a specific variety
or subgroup of Turkic languages. It is well-known that borrowings from a given language can be
identified because they typically reflect the phonology of that language. English borrowings from
French reflect French phonology, etc. In addition I cannot see why linguistic theories should look for
‘independent evidence’ [sic], independent from what? Linguistics is perfectly legitimate.
***

And, in fact, several scholars nowadays call into question the validity of both the Uralic (see for
example Marcantonio [2002]) and the Altaic theory (see for example Unger [1990]). A similar situation
is encountered within I-E too, with regard to the well known lexical, phonological and structural
similarities identified between Sanskrit and the other (non-I-E) languages (such as Dravidian and
Munda) that constitute the complex ‘South Asian linguistic area’– see at this regard Masica (1976) as
well as the so-called ‘Aryan Debate’ (for which see Introduction and the chapter by Annamalai &
Steever in this volume). In particular, the identified similarities have been traditionally interpreted by
most scholars as ‘clear’ instances of borrowing (since the languages / language families in question are
not considered genetically related), despite the fact that, in practice, it is very difficult in this area (too)
to distinguish – through linguistics means only -- similarities attributable to genetic inheritance, or to
borrowing, or even to chance resemblances (as some scholars now do recognize, see for ex. Hock [1996:
36ff.]).
***
AF: ok, so things are clear: we know where she stands.
***
Even if this ‘intrinsic circularity’ (as I would like to call it) were not considered to represent a
methodological difficulty, there is still embedded into the comparative method what one could call the
‘every-day practice circularity’, which has been effectively described by Morpurgo Davies (1998: 254)3
as follows:

A final agreement about the nature and validity of sound-laws was never reached. It was generally
accepted […] that testing any sound law against the data was bound to reveal a number of exceptions;
[….]. The neogrammarians did of course maintain that all the exceptions could be explained away by
re-defining the law, or by identifying a different starting-point, or by recognizing the interference with
analogical process, but they were immediately accused of circularity […].We can say that the sound
laws have no exceptions only because when we find an exception we eliminate it saying that there has
been analogical interference. On the other hand, we also say that the only way in which we can prove
that a form […] is analogical is by pointing out that otherwise it would be an exception to the sound
laws.

Other typical means of ‘explaining away’ exceptions and items of counter evidence are: assuming
borrowing (even from unknown, extinct languages /dialects), re-arranging in a different order the stated
sequence of rules, postulating a (/another) laryngeal segment, etc. It is true to say that each of these
‘adjustable parameters’ – as these could be called -- does reflect a plausible, genuine linguistic process;
***
AF: There is an interesting discussion of these issues in the first chapter of Greenberg, Joseph. 1987.
Language in the Americas.
***
however, the problem is that the overall cumulative effect of many adjustable parameters added to
the definition of a given law may endanger the ‘cumulative effect’, that is, the ‘statistical significance’
any established ‘law’, or even ‘tendency’, should have. Thus, there is the danger that the explanatory
system ceases to be ‘explanatory’ and becomes an ‘adhoc’ system, a system that is so flexible and
complex that the attained results are difficult to verify or, conversely, falsify. In addition to this, one
may observe that the task of the Comparative Method is that to reject words that do not meet the stated
soundrules, therefore it can be no surprise that (at least in principle) one is left with only those words
that (supposedly) do meet them. This amounts to a licence to reject any items of counter-evidence to the
model, or, to put it another way, it introduces a systematic bias in the data which needs to be filtered out
(as we shall see, this bias can be filtered out using quantitative methods of analysis).
***
AF: What about the items which do not require any kind of “adjustable parameters”? It would seem that
everything is tainted by circularity, subjectivism and ad-hoc cumulative adjustments...
***

1. 2. The impact of circularity on reconstruction

The flexibility/circularity issue, however much known,

***
AF: I'm afraid there is no issue. It's more that Marcantonio's description of the method is false.
***
has hardly ever been the object of a targeted, systematic and extensive investigation (to my knowledge)
in order to verify its possible impact on the soundness of I-E, or other traditionally established language
families. In other words, there have not been investigations whose purpose is that of assessing the
cumulative effect, the statistical significance of the traditionally established IE comparative corpus (but
see Brady & Marcantonio [2003], Marcantonio [2002] and [2003/5]).
There may be several reasons for this. It has been often claimed (see for example Nichols [1996])
that the comparative method is not a ‘heuristic method’, and therefore it can only be used ‘after’ a
language family has been already established -- through other means -- to trace back sound changes and
related correspondences. This being the case, it does not matter how many exceptional sound changes,
how many chance resemblances, ‘false matches’ there may be within a given comparative corpus.
Besides, a certain amount of items of counter evidence and /or of exceptions would not, in any case, be
sufficient to call into question the I-E model (in the same way that no theory can be rejected on the basis

3
See Introduction for a fuller version of this quote.
of the existence of a certain amount of counter-evidence). For example, Ringe (1995:60) argues that:
“irregularity (in suitably small number) can be tolerated in working with languages whose relationship
has already been established beyond doubt, but they are potentially fatal weaknesses in an attempt to
prove a doubtful relationship”. Similarly, It has been claimed that there are linguistic areas for which we
‘know’ that the languages are related, but whose relatedness cannot be demonstrate by using the logic of
the comparative method, mainly because the correspondences are, simply, not regular. This is for
example the case of the languages of southeastern New Caledonia (Grace 1990 & 1996), whose
investigation appears to show that the languages are “obviously” genetically related, although the
method of comparison is hardly applicable. Following the same line of reasoning, other scholars have
stated that the establishment of just a few cognates, or even of one single cognate, would be enough to
demonstrate genetic relatedness. This is, for example, the position held by Harrison (2003: 217), who
also observes that when the number of putative cognates and /or correspondence sets approaches a level
that is not statistically significant (i.e., that might be attributable to chance) “the C[comparative]
M[ethod] has ceased to work”. Another reason for the lack of interest in assessing the impact of
circularity on I-E (and elsewhere) may lie in the fact that, in order to carry out this type of investigation,
one needs to apply the appropriate methodology, that is, quantitative, statistical methods of analysis.
However, most linguists appear to believe that statistics is not a meaningful tool within historical
linguistics, because the task of the historical linguist would not be that of quantifying how many items
of evidence support the model, or, conversely, how many items of evidence counter to the model can be
identified. The task of the historical linguist is instead that of finding those very factors that have
triggered the irregularities, and therefore, to justify them. In other words, counter-evidence is nothing
but irregularities that we have not been able to justify (yet). This way of reasoning ties in well with the
thesis that the comparative method is not heuristic, or that genetic relatedness cannot always be
demonstrated, being simply ‘obvious’ / ‘evident to the naked eye of the trained scholar’ (see again
Nichols 1996).
***
AF: That kind of point of view is extremely troublesome. A genetic relationship cannot just be
“obvious”. It must be argumented in a way or another.
***
Thus, assessing the cumulative effect of sound laws and the statistical significance of a
comparative corpus is simply an irrelevant task here, a task that does not help us in our understanding of
language development and sound changes, and does not lead anywhere.

1. 3. The advantages of quantitative methods of analysis

In contrast to the points of view summarised above, there have been several linguists who have pointed
out the advantages for historical linguistics to adopt (also) quantitative methods of analysis, and have
themselves carried out several (types of) quantitative investigations. Here the major advantage would be
that of relying on methods that are ‘objective’, being by their very nature ‘replicable’ and, therefore,
truly verifiable or falsifiable; see for example Chrétien (1937); Ringe (1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999);
Ringe et al. (2002); Mc Mahon & Mc Mahon (2003) and McMahon & McMahon4 (2005). In particular,
according to Ringe (1999: 213), it is fundamental that any observed similarity between two languages
must be supported by a demonstration that the similarity in question could not be the result of sheer
chance, since failing to provide a demonstration of this sort is “non-negotiable” for a linguistic
discipline which purports itself to be scientific. On several occasions (see for example [1995:65]) Ringe
also refers to what he defines “the ‘brute force’ probabilistic analysis” that would correlate a very large
number of pairs from I-E languages, as against the poor statistical value correspondences which would
correlate the various languages from other language families. Ringe (1995: 68-71) further observes that,
since one cannot prove that languages are not related, those who propose specific correlations among
languages have to provide “objective proof” of them, otherwise “scientific historical linguistics is
simply impossible”. Similarly, McMahon & McMahon (2005:26-7) state that:

4
For a detailed account of the history of quantitative, historical linguistics – scope of applicability, methods and results --see
McMahon & McMahon (2003) and (2005; see also the chapter by Drinka in this volume.
 The current difficulty comparativists face is our inability to test and demonstrate family relationships,
so that these can either be proved beyond reasonable doubts, or refuted. If we cannot tell good results
from bad ones in a formal and repeatable way, we cannot hope to distinguish good methods from bad
ones either. […..] The relative informality of the [comparative] method, and the lack of testability
beyond the checks built into the method itself, mean we have to rely on the experience and integrity of
individual practitioners to do so.

Despite this kind of programmatic (and, in my opinion, correct) statements, hardly any quantitative
investigation carried out thus far within historical linguistics has addressed the issue of the statistical
significance, or, to use Ringe’s words, “the ‘brute force’ probabilistic analysis” that, supposedly,
correlates a very large number of correspondences from the I-E languages; on the contrary, this is given
for granted (but see Bird’s (1982) and Ringe’s (1995) analysis of Pokorny’s dictionary5). These
investigations have in fact centered on assessing the soundness of the traditional, internal sub-branching
of I-E (see Ringe et al. [2002] and McMahon & McMahon [2005]), or on comparing the I-E
comparative corpus with that of the Nostratic /Eurasiatic macro-family (Ringe 1995, 1998), in order to
show how the latter lacks statistical significance and is, therefore, not a valid family. For example Ringe
et al. (2002) attempt to recover the first order subgrouping of the I-E family using a new computational
method, and this is because, according to the Authors, through the traditional methods of historical
linguistics no consensus has ever been reached “on how those ten robust subfamilies [of I-E] are related
to one another cladistically” (p. 81). In a word, typically the I-E family, whose statistical significance
and soundness is not under scrutiny, is used as a ‘control case’ against which to compare the statistical
significance, and, therefore, the validity of other language families.
Thus, whether implicitly assumed or explicitly stated, whether considered to be relevant or
irrelevant for the purpose of evaluating the soundness of the I-E theory, the positive statistical
significance of the I-E corpus appears to be, in any case, taken for granted, and this is the point where
my personal opinion differs from that of most linguists’. In other words, I believe that:

a) Assessing the statistical significance of the comparative corpus of any language family
(including I-E), does actually matter. In fact, in my opinion, when the number of putative
cognate sets approaches a level that is not statistically significant – to use Harrisons’ words --
this does not mean that “the C[omparative] M[ethod] has ceased to work”, but, on the contrary,
it means that we are facing clear instances of evidence counter to the predictions of the model;
b) Even if one did not agree with this stand of mine — and, as we have seen, many historical
linguists in fact do not – I believe it is nevertheless a useful exercise to investigate the statistical
significance of the I-E comparative corpus, at least to have an empirically assessed, objective
picture of the status of I-E with regard to, for example, those language families that hardly
contain any proper correspondences (for which see discussion above);
c) If one accepts what is stated in points (a) and (b) above, then the statistical significance of I-E
has to be properly and empirically verified, instead of being simply assumed, and this
verification can only be achieved through the help of quantitative, replicable types of analyses.
***
AF: I agree that quantitative information is important. But there is no particular reason to consider that
statistics is more “objective” than any competent scholar.
***

5 As far as I know, the only attempts to assess the statistical significance of an IE corpus have been made by Bird (1982) and
then by Ringe (1995), although the purpose of their analysis is not that of verifying the soundness of the I-E theory. The
purpose of these studies is that of comparing the distribution of cognates in Nostratic with the distribution of cognates in
“uncontroversial language families” (Ringe 1995:64), such as I-E, in order to show the difference between the two cases and
draw the necessary conclusions. More specifically, Ringe analyses the comparative corpus presented in Pokorny (1959-69),
using the statistical summary of the distribution of cognates in the dictionary as carried out by Bird (1982). The specific
purpose of the research is that of investigating whether the distribution of cognates in Pokorny does produce a curve that can be
generated randomly, that is, whether these cognates might be (at least in part) the effect of chance resemblances, and then to
compare the I-E situation with the distribution of cognates within Nostratic. Ringe (1995:65) concludes that: “Pokorny’s
evidential standards are lamentably lax; he includes a large number of items which probably should not be reconstructed for
Proto-Indo-European (PIE), either because the cognate set shows too many irregularities of one sort or another, or because
‘sound symbolism’ of various kinds can account for the similarities observed.
Bearing these general issues in mind, I shall examine a significant sample of the conventionally
established I-E phonological / lexical and morpho-phonological comparative corpora in order to verify
whether, and to which extent, the circularity problem has affected them. In practice, I shall try to asses
the ratio between the number of rules -- and related ‘adjustable parameters’-- needed to establish a given
correspondence and the overall number of correspondences those (more or less large sets) of rules are
capable of accounting for. Once the picture on this aspect of I-E studies is clear, then one can draw
his/her own conclusions on whether the attained results have any bearing on the validity, or otherwise,
of the theory as a whole, according to his/her stand on the general, underlying issues discussed above
and in the Introduction.

1. 4. The quantitative analysis: Summary of the methods and results

The data examined in this investigation are taken from a well defined source, the LIV dictionary of I-E
verbal roots (Rix [1998]) -- a modern and (supposedly) much more rigorous dictionary than the previous
existing ones, and which represents the current, widely accepted way on the procedures of
reconstruction of the I-E roots and stems.
***
AF: I'm not sure that this work is “widely accepted”. There is clearly a number of problems in the LIV.
In fact there is a confusion in the paper between reviewing the LIV and discussing the comparative
method or the validity of PIE in general.
***
My investigation involves simply counting and categorising all the reconstructed verbal roots present in
LIV6, as well as any other relevant element associated with the roots in question (such as meaning(s),
morpho-phonological alternations, presence vs absence of laryngeal segments, etc., for which see
discussion below), and then simply mapping the results of the counting into standard types of graphs.
No sophisticated statistical analysis and /or computer modelling of the type used by Ringe or McMahon
& McMahon (quoted) are in fact used here. The quantitative investigation of the verbal roots is designed
to quantify the following main instances of circularity, as indicated by the reported results:

Result 1: 32% of the roots are reconstructed on the basis of data drawn from one single branch of the I-E
family. Thus, the evidence suggests that these roots may be of local or other origin. However, the
assumption is made that they are of I-E origin and reconstructions are proposed; it is then self-evidently
circular to conclude that these words are of I-E origin just because of the establishment of a
reconstruction.
***
AF: What is exactly a “branch”?
***

Result 2: 34% of the roots are reconstructed on the basis of data drawn from two language branches
only. As is known, reconstructions of this sort are not safe, because the possibility of chance
resemblance or borrowing rates quite high in these circumstances. In spite of this, the assumption is
made that these roots are of I-E origin, and reconstructions are proposed. However, once again, it would
be circular to conclude that these words are of I-E origin because of the existence of reconstructions.
***
AF: It can nevertheless be noted that these items fit a general pattern.
***

Result 3: Most reconstructions of the verbal roots consist not just of a single reconstruction, but of a set
of alternative ‘sub-reconstructions’ – a set of alternative starting-points which are called ‘alternations’.
This is justified by the observation that morpho-phonological alternations are indeed one of the features

6
Note that, strictly speaking, LIV does not list ‘indogermanischen Wurzeln’, but ‘indogermanischen Verben’, that is, those
provided with ‘Primärstämme’ (see below). Note also that I have not used the second edition of LIV (2001) because it was not
yet available when this research was carried out.
characteristic of (several) I-E languages. Although this is undoubtedly the case, if not used carefully,
this procedure can make the method circular.

To take an extreme example, if an attested language A uses the word dog whilst another language B uses
the word cat to refer to what is supposed to be the same or similar reference, then if one assumes (a
priori) that the words belong to genetically related languages, one might reconstruct the proto-word *cat
~ *dog in order to justify the actual difference in sound (and often also in meaning). In the analysis
below I’ll show that the number of alternative ‘sub-reconstructions’ reconstructed for each verbal root
typically increases -- and increases linearly -with the increase of the number of the language branches
that support the root. This is exactly what one would expect if the *cat ~ *dog fallacy were being used.
No alternative explanation for this clear pattern in the data can really be found. Thus, reconstructions of
this sort are based on the assumption that the words are related, and so it would be circular to conclude
that in fact they are so related, just because of the establishment of ‘reconstructed’ --as against to
actually ‘attested’-- morpho-phonological alternations.
***
AF: I cannot see what the relationship between the pseudo-example *cat ~ *dog and well-known
morpho-phonological alternations. This is not “an extreme example”(?) but irrelevant nonsense.
***
The object of my investigation are the phonological / lexical correspondences, not just because
dictionaries deal with lexical correspondences, but because at the lexical level there is at least one clear
criterion (however much disputable) one can rely upon in order to carry out the analysis and against
which to verify the attained results: the regularity principle and the sound laws (supposedly) established
on the basis of this principle. I shall not investigate morphological correspondences because at this level
the operation of the regularity principle is, admittedly, (even) much less regular than at the phonological
level, therefore it is not clear which guiding principles and criteria one can rely upon in order to
establish a match, if not an intuitive, ‘naked-eye’ observation of (a certain degree of) similarity among
the identified morphological elements. In other words, in general, it is not clear how to validate the
morphological model against the evidence, since there are not clearly specified laws and there is much
greater reliance on processes such as analogical leveling, whose conditions of operation do not appear to
be consistently defined using predictive and verifiable criteria.
***
AF: There is indeed a number of problems with morphology, as these elements are usually unaccented
and often subjected to specific influences and analogical leveling.
***
However, as mentioned above, I have examined a significant sample of morphophonological
correlations, which are instead easier to analyze through quantitative methods because of the
(supposedly) rigorous correlation between sound alternation and morphological information.

As we shall see, the results of this investigation show that the lexical corpus and at least one
specific morpho-phonological corpus assembled in LIV definitively lack statistical significance, as a
consequence of which it is reasonable to assume that most of the correspondences there assembled are
‘chance resemblances’.
***
AF: what are the criteria that define “statistical significance”?
***
However, the possibility that the traditionally established comparative corpus of I-E (like that of
any other language family) might contain a (more or less) high number of chance resemblances should
not come as a total surprise. In fact, for example Hock (1993 & 1994), considers the issue of chance
resemblances (with particular reference to the South Asia linguistic area) to be an “especially
troublesome” issue. He has therefore has assembled long lists of chance resemblances among several I-E
and Dravidian languages7, just to observe that (1996:37): “As the continuous controversy over remote
7
Hock (1993) presents a long list of what he considers to be chance resemblances between Tamil and English as well as Indo-
Aryan and English. Hock (1994) presents a list of Dravidian /Indo-Aryan chance similarities. He shows how difficult it can be
to tell apart proper correspondences, borrowing and chance resemblances not only within macro-families but also within well
established families.
linguistic relationships shows, there is no generally accepted answer to the question: What is the chance
of similarities being accidental?”. Well, I hope the analysis carried out below will unable us to get a
fairly faithful picture of the level of chance similarities embedded within a major I-E lexical corpus.

2. The statistical significance of the Indo-European comparative corpus assembled in LIV

2. 1. Counting the verbal roots

Counting all the verbal roots listed in LIV, one observes that 200 of the 683 ‘safely reconstructed’ roots
(‘safely’ according to the dictionary itself), are reconstructed on the basis of only one daughter language
or language branch (‘witness’ to the reconstruction). In the absence of any comparison with another
language branch, it is hard to discern the basis of the claim that the roots descended from ancient I-E
rather than from some other source, much less that they have been ‘safely’ reconstructed as Indo-
European. In fact, if a word is present in only one language group then this strongly suggests quite the
opposite – that the word is of local origin.
***
AF: more exactly “of unknown origin”.
Another issue is that the LIV only deals with verb forms, and does not cite all the other forms that may
be derived from the same root. So the idea that these verbs are somehow “completely isolated” is
misleading and most often false.
***
Likewise, an equally high number of roots (34%, as mentioned) have been reconstructed on the basis of
only two daughter language branches as ‘witnesses’. There is an unacceptably high likelihood of false
matches if one operates with only two ‘witnesses’ to support the reconstruction, because it is too easy or
tempting to pick out similar forms that may or may not be truly related. This observation is generally
accepted among linguists; for example, Meillet (1934: 41) proposes the ‘threewitnesses criterion’, whilst
Greenberg (2005) suggests four languages as a sufficient number to establish a historical relationship.
This simple counting shows that, of the LIV corpus, 66% of the roots cannot be relied upon
because they are reconstructed on the basis of just one or two languages / branches witnesses only. They
lack therefore statistical significance, and it is hard to imagine on which quantitative basis they can be
considered as reflections of genuine I-E correlations. As a matter of fact, Campbell (1998:115),
obviously accepting the three-witnesses criterion as relevant, criticizes the ‘Nostratic’ comparative
corpus as assembled by Illic-Svityc (1971-84) for the fact that 35 % of the cognate sets have been
established on the basis of only two member families. On the basis of this and other methodological
flaws Campbell rejects the Nostratic hypothesis as not scientifically proven (correctly, in my opinion).
***
AF: ok, so “statistical significance” is defined by the geographic distribution among subbranches.
***
Thus, on the same basis, for the sake of consistency, one has to reject 66% of the verbal roots as
reconstructed in LIV. Discounting those unreliable roots whose reconstruction does not meet the three-
witnesses criterion,
***
AF: This goes a bit too fast as derivatives belonging to other parts of speech should be taken into
account.
***
this leaves us with 34% of the roots whose reconstruction is supported by three or more witnesses
and are therefore worth examining as the basis of a genuine I-E comparative corpus. Of this 34%, nearly
half have been reconstructed using laryngeal segments, whose status as phonetic/phonological I-E
segments is still disputed, despite the fact that the laryngeal theory is now widely (if not universally)
accepted. This leaves 126 roots (that is 18% of the total) that could form evidence, in principle, for
genuine linguistic correlations, because their reconstruction meets the three-witnesses criterion and do
not make recourse to laryngeal segments.
***
AF: I cannot see why “laryngeal segments” are so “disputed” that they should be canned without any
kind of examination. There is nothing suspect about laryngeals.
***
 The next step will be to try and count the number of linguistic rules that have been used to
reconstruct the LIV corpus. Unfortunately LIV does not state which rules are used in its reconstruction,
and therefore one must look at the general literature and assume that these rules have been adopted in
the dictionary. According to Collinge (1985), there 54 ‘major laws’ and 11 ‘major tendencies’, giving a
total of 65 general rules.
***
AF: the reasoning here is clearly absurd as the “laws” listed in Collinge (1985) often represent the
analysis or the proposal of one particular author about one given phenomenon and these “laws”
sometimes contradict another (or more) “law” described in the book. In all cases the “laws” listed in
Collinge have nothing to do with the forms as reconstructed in the LIV. Collinge (1985) is not a kind of
how-to-reconstruct-PIE handbook.
***
In addition, for each rule there are a variable number of ‘contextual specifications’ or ‘adjustable
parameters’. The precise number is very difficult to ascertain, because, of course, this number depends
on single interpretations of a given Law (of which often there are several): those interpretations that
admit fewer exceptions tend to contain more adjustable parameters, since these are needed to ‘justify’
the exceptions in question and transform them into ‘apparent exceptions’. Brady & Marcantonio (2003)
have counted 165 to 202, general (as opposed to language-specific) such adjustable parameters for all
the Laws (not major tendencies) listed in Collinge (1985). This estimated number of contextual
specifications /adjustable parameters represents an under-estimate, since the contextual, ‘language-
specific’ specifications that are evidently used in LIV (in the form of ‘explanatory notes’) to get the
expected reflex in all the relevant languages, but have not been mentioned by Collinge while merely
stating the general Law, have not been counted.
Whatever the overall number of Laws plus their adjustable parameters might be, their number is
at least comparable with, and almost certainly higher than, 126, the number of the roots that meet the
three-witnesses criterion and do not contain laryngeals. These roots have been called in Brady &
Marcantonio (2003) as ‘lawful’ – just to pick up a name – that is, they have been established according
to the conventional Laws, without making recourse to laryngeal segments. The diagram below (from
Brady & Marcantonio 2003) illustrates this situation: there is only a very small number of roots that are
widely represented, being attested in 6 or more languages / language branches; this number becomes
even smaller if one does not count the roots containing laryngeal segments (or if one does not accept the
particular version of the Laryngeal theory adopted by LIV [see below]):

***
AF: it is difficult to draw any conclusion as we don't know what the “daughter language groups” are.
***
2. 2. Are the Indo-European morpho-phonemic alternations genuine or artefacts?
2. 2. 1. We shall see in this section that there is evidence of a strong bias in the reconstruction of the
roots themselves in the area of vowel alternation (Ablaut), and associated morpho-phonology. This bias
has helped researchers to find correlations where, according to our analysis, they are not justified and
may be an artefact of the method of analysis. As we shall see below, the bias is betrayed by the fact that
the roots whose reconstruction has been established on the basis of a large number of I-E languages /
language groups tend also to display a large number of morphophonemic alternations.
Vowel alternations, both in nouns and verbs, are widely claimed to be a distinctive feature of I-E,
***
AF: No, certainly not. Cf. Bomhard (2008) about Nostratic ablaut.
***
and many of the vowel alternations present in the modern languages have, supposedly, been
inherited from alternations already existing in the proto-language (see the chapter by Carruba in this
volume for a modern account of this phenomenon). In particular, among the inherited alternations in the
verbs, there are claimed to be morpho-phonemic alternations of the radical vowel(s) -- ‘radical Ablaut’--
that is, alternations systematically associated with morphological information. In other words, different
grades are associated with different tenses and / or moods (at the singular active within a given
declension). Thus, most root reconstructions typically consist not just of a single reconstructed root, but
of a set of alternative reconstructions, postulated in order to represent (also) the various (morpho-
phonemic) alternations, supposedly already existing in the proto-language. For example, according to
Szemerényi (1996: 91), the set of the basic Ablaut variations of the disyllabic root *genē- ‘to bear, be
born, beget’ is the following: *genə-, *gnē-, *gṇ- (for the e-grade series); *gonə-, *gnō- (for the o-grade
series) and *gēnə-, *gōnə- (for the long grade series, in first syllable only). Since schwa can be lost
before vowels, also forms of the type *gen-, *gon- and *gēn- can occur.
***
AF: there is clearly a confusion between radical ablaut between e/o/zero and laryngeals: the root is
genH1-.
In addition Szmerényi is doubtless not representative of the mainstream point of view. He is more an
extreme point, and in my opinion an irreversibly outdated point.
***
Although gradation is a common phenomenon in languages, it is intuitively clear that, with so many
starting-point reconstructions, it can be a priori quite easy to match almost any form found across a
given linguistic area. Indeed, for example, it has been necessary to postulate up to ten alternative
reconstructions for *genē-, in order to account for the actually attested and spottily distributed forms.
This has been taken to the extreme where the number of the reconstructed alternations (10) is close to
the number of attested ones (there are 16 different forms from only 4 languages: Sanskrit, Latin, Greek
and Germanic). In other words, postulating so many gradations at the level of the proto-language makes
it an easy job to ‘prove’ that the specific, attested patterns of alternation -- rather than, say, the general
phenomenon of gradation -- have been inherited from the supposed proto-language8. In layman’s terms,
we are close to the hypothetical extreme discussed above, where we have two attested words, dog and
cat, and reconstruct that they are connected via the I-E form *cat ~ *dog. We shall examine this in more
detail below.
***
AF: nonsense. In addition to confusing radical ablaut and laryngeals now gradation is also added to the
general hotchpotch.
***
Let us now discuss in detail the verbal roots as reconstructed in LIV. Each reconstruction consists of two
or more alternative reconstructions (alternative forms), which I shall call ‘variants’. These variants
consist, mainly, of vowel alternations / morpho-phonemic variations, although often they also contain
affixes (infixes/suffixes). These affixes – called by LIV ‘primary affixes’ --enlarge the original root and
are claimed to convey aspectual information and /or to modify the original meaning of the bare root,

8
The fact that many alternating starting-point reconstructions can be a too powerful tool of analysis has also been pointed out
within Uralic studies, where most scholars refrain from reconstructing proto-alternations, that is, attributing them to the Uralic
proto-language. [AF: then what is vowel harmony if not an alternation?]
although it is self-evident that several roots do display a bewildering array of different formations whose
origin /function cannot be traced back and, therefore, justified (for a discussion of this issue see
Clackson [2007:151 ff.]). Like the root, affixes too may alternate. In a word, by ‘variant’ I mean each
different alternating form -- consisting of Ablaut only or Ablaut + primary affix – that, together with the
other, similar forms in the set, contributes to make a reconstructed root (and, of course, the various,
reconstructed stems derived from it). These variants are regarded as different aspects of a single
reconstruction, and many of them contain laryngeal segments, either in the root or in the affixes, or both
(according to the laryngeal theory version adopted by LIV). Let us give a couple of examples: the root
*deh3 (*dō-, according to pre-laryngeal notation) ‘to give’ (LIV 1998:89, 2001:105-6) and the root
*dek’ ‘to take, perceive/notice’ (LIV 1998:93-5, 2001: 109-11):

*deh3 ‘to give’

1) Aorist *déh3- / dh3- 2) Present *dé-doh3 /dh3

3) Desiderative9 ?*di-dh3-sé

*dek’ ‘to take, notice’

1) Aorist *dék’-/dek’- 2a) Present *dék’-/dék’-

2b) Present *dek’-néu/nu- 3) Perfect *de-dók’/dek’-
4) Causative *dok’-éie- 5) Desiderative: *di-dk’-sé
6) Intensive *dék’-dok’/dek’- 7) Essive: *dek’-h1ié-

As one can see, the root *deh3 consists of a set of five alternative forms, five variants in total, across 3
tenses / moods: two variants associated with Aorist, two with Present and only one with Desiderative,
the latter being enlarged with the suffix -sé-. Equally, the root *dek’ consists of a set of 13 variants,
across seven tenses/ moods: two variants associated with Aorist, two with type (a) and two with type (b)
Presentx; two variants associated with Perfect; one with Causative and one with Desiderative; two again
associated with Intensive, and one with Essive. Type (2b) Present, Causative and Desiderative are also
enlarged with affixes. The suffix -néu/nu-, which enlarges the Present tense of type (b) in the root *dek’,
also, in turn, displays alternation. The fact that there is not just one single form / variant, but a sub-set of
two different, alternating variants associated with most tenses /moods is justified by the observation that
the tenses /moods in question tend to display alternations also internally, within their declension
(according to conventional reconstructions): typically, an alternation between full grade in the singular
active of the Indicative/Injunctive vs reduced or Ø-grade elsewhere. In other words, the overall set of
variants typically consists of what one could call ‘horizontal’ and ‘internal’ variants, that is,
respectively, alternating forms associated with different tenses / moods (such as Present vs Perfect), and
alternating forms associated with the internal paradigm (such as Singular vs Plural / Dual within a given
declension).
As an example of a specific (horizontal) morpho-phonemic alternation let us consider the Present
vs Perfect vs Aorist alternation in Greek, widely quoted as illustration of the phenomenon. As
conventionally stated, a full, e-grade is associated with the Present tense, an o-grade is associated with
the Perfect tense, whilst the Aorist is associated with the ø-grade (at the Singular Indicative/ Injunctive
active), as illustrated by the Greekxi verbs ‘to leave’ and ‘to see’ below:

Present Perfect Aorist

leipo ‘leave’ le-loip-a e-lip-on

dérko-mai ‘see’ de-dor-ka e-drak-on (* < drk-)
***
AF: de-dork-a lol.
***

9
The question mark is in the text, meaning that the reconstruction is considered by LIV as unsure.
Morpho-phonemic alternations of this sort, if substantiated by a good amount of items of evidence
(whatever ‘good’ might mean), across the I-E languages, could be indeed a strong clue of genetic
inheritance, because a widely attested, constant association between a given radical vowel grade and a
given morphological information can hardly be the result of chance resemblance. However, the reality is
that the evidence for postulating so many variants in the reconstruction of a single roots (including many
types of Present and several enlarging, primary affixes) appears to be a fabrication of the method,
***
AF: What about Saussure's Mémoire?
***
as I am going to argue below, because of the following facts: A) as anticipated, roots established on the
basis of a high(er) number of I-E daughter languages / branches have been reconstructed with a high(er)
number of alternative variants, this being an indication of a strong bias (see par. 2. 2. 2. below); B) a
detailed investigation of one specific morpho-phonemic alternation, the Present vs Perfect, has revealed
that it is, indeed, poorly attested, thus confirming the suspicion that most of the postulated, reconstructed
alternations are indeed artefacts of the method (see par. 2. 2. 3. below).

2. 2. 2. Let us then start with the issue raised in point (A) above, that is, the correlation between the
number of languages / language groups that support a given reconstructed root and the number of
variants reconstructed for that very root. Here the crucial factor is that this correlation is quite strong,
and the constant of proportionality is very close to ‘one’. This suggests that, on average, one variant
(alternative form), has been added to the root each time a new daughter language (branch) is claimed as
being supporting evidence for establishing that root. There are several hundred such roots in LIV. For
each verbal root, I have counted the number of reconstructed variants (V) associated with the root, and
the number of daughter languages (language groups/branches) (G) in which at least one (supposedly)
derived verbal item is attested. These two values (V and G) should be independent of one another if the
correlations among the assumed cognates (and related distribution of radical Ablaut) are to be
considered genuine.
On the other hand, if the reconstructions were due to chance resemblances, one would expect that
the two values V and G would be positively correlated, because the higher is the number of variants
postulated, the higher is the likelihood of establishing a match, or better, a false match among the
language groups. This is indeed what my counting has revealed. As shown in the graph in figure (II), the
average number of variants is strongly correlated with the number of daughter language groups
accounted for by the root. In fact, the data fits extremely well to the formula G = 1.6 + L for the range 1
to 5 groups:
Thus, this clear correlation, with a proportionality factor of very close to ‘one’, strongly suggests that,
on average, one new variant has been ‘appended’ to the reconstruction with each newly claimed
daughter language group; in turn this suggests that the majority of the ‘cognates’ reported in this corpus
are artefacts of the method of reconstruction. There is, nevertheless, a departure from this linearity,
whereby G >5 (see figure V below). In other words, there is a small number of roots -- 4% --whose
reconstruction is supported by 6 or more daughter language groups and that are, therefore, potentially
(statistically) significant. I shall discuss this aspect below, trying to find a possible explanation for this
departure from the observed linearity.
***
AF: It's quite obvious that the LIV does not list all attested forms but only those forms which illustrate a
given derivative. So it's fairly possible that a considerably higher number of forms exist which are not
listed. So the reasoning is completely flawed. Actually it is obvious from the start that the LIV
exemplifies each form with one language, so we have as many forms as we have languages. The
correlation is one by construction. Stupid.
***
There are two possible ways one might attempt to account for this linear relationship between the
two values (G and V). Linguists have already asked themselves why there are many fewer alternations
in the attested languages than in the reconstructions. The conventional interpretation (see for example
Szemerényi (1996:83-93); Sihler (1995: 109-111), etc.) assumes that different languages may inherit
different variants from the multiplicity of true original, I-E variants of a root. Thus, it should not be
surprising that, most often, only a few and /or different grades (out of a complete series) are found
scattered across different languages. In other words, each new language group claimed to support the
root under investigation, allegedly, uncovers more variants from the original, I-E complete set of
variants. This is indeed the thesis espoused also by LIV and by Carruba (in this volume): the fact that
most I-E languages do not, in fact, typically display the complete, or almost complete, series of a
claimed (morpho-phonemic) alternation is justified by assuming a widespread process of analogical
leveling in the daughter languages (although Carruba admits that the I-E apophonie – as he calls this
phenomenon – has not yet been fully understood and explained). As an example of how one particular
variant out of a given set of variants may be attested by one language or two, another variant by a
different language, a third alternation by yet another, different language, and so on, let us consider again
the root *dek’ (1998:934, 2001:109-11). The 7 reconstructed, ‘horizontal’ variants, according to LIV,
are distributed as follows:

1) the two forms of Present (a) *de´k’-/dék’- and (b)*dek’-néu /nu- are attested in Indo-Iranian and
Greek;
2) the Perfect *de-dók’/dek’- is attested in Vedic, Greek and Latin
3) the Aorist *dék’-/dek’- is attested in Greek and Armenian
4) the Causative: *dok’-éie- is attested in Hittite, Greek and Latin
5) the Desiderative: *di-dk’-sé- is attested in Vedic and Latin
6) the Intensive: *dék’-dok’/dek’- is attested in Greek
7) the Essive: *dek’-h1ié-is attested in Latin

The conventional explanation -- that more languages uncover more variants out of an original, complete
series -- could certainly be a plausible explanation in principle.
***
AF: in my opionion it is probable that most of these forms are rather innovations than conservations.
***
However, combining this explanation with the fact that the constant of proportionality is almost exactly
‘one’ leads to an important conclusion: that almost every reconstruction is based on a different starting
point reconstruction (the extreme ‘*dog ~ *cat’ situation). The conventional explanation is also
inconsistent with the fact that the ‘first’ language group is special in that it uncovers more variants than
subsequent groups, as is evident from the graph. In practice, the evidence suggests that the following
process has taken place: A reconstruction is initially introduced with about 2.3 variants on average,
based on some of the variants actually attested in several daughter languages -- mainly Sanskrit and /or
Greek -- from which comparisons typically start. If, while searching for other language groups in
support of the reconstructed root, the evidence does not quite match the initially proposed
reconstruction, then one new variant can be appended to accommodate it. Thus the linear relationship
between V (variants) and G (language group/branch), and its slope of (almost) unity, is the statistical
result of this process of introducing a large number of alternative reconstructions, which are artefacts of
the method of analysis. In other words, here is clear evidence of a bias, which appears to have arisen
because linguists, analysing the data, knew a priori which words are ‘supposed’ to share a common
ancestor.
***
AF: nonsense.
***

2. 2. 3. Let us now discuss the issue raised in point (B), that is, the distribution of the e vs o (Present vs
Perfect) alternation, one of the major sources of variants of a root within I-E. Accordingly, in LIV, 259
roots display this type of alternation, and 114 of these are considered to be safe cases. A close scrutiny
of the actual evidence across the I-E area reveals that this alternation is rather poorly attested. In fact,
only the Indo-Iranian languages and Greek document a clear category of Perfect with o-grade (strong
form) in the singular indicative active, alternating with Ø-grade (weak form) elsewhere, with related
position of the accent on the radical syllable in the strong forms and on the desinential syllable in the
weak forms.
***
AF: grossly false. What about Germanic? And English to begin with: I was / you were.
***
The situation is much more complex and unclear in the other languages, including the Germanic
languages and, even more, Latin (see below).
***
AF: that's correct for Latin.
***
Furthermore, even in Indo-Iranian and Greek the evidence is not that strong after all. In fact, in Indo-
Iranian the -o- grade is attested indirectly, due to the merger of short /e/ and /o/. In Greek, the forms of
Perfect presenting o-grade vs Ø-grade are only a small number -- about a dozen verbs – that are,
however, considered to be very old; see the type: Sing. oida vs Plural id-men, corresponding to Skt.
ve´da vs vidmá (< *woid; ‘I /we have seen’, therefore ‘I /we know’).
***
AF: more exactly *woid versus *wid
Besides, these verbs are among the best attested verbs throughout IE languages.
***
Basically, in Greek, the internal alternation (in the appropriate declensions) is found only in the so-
called a-thematic formation, a small minority of cases, the absence of internal alternation being in fact
the norm, otherwise. This contradiction between the predictions of the model and the actual data is
‘explained away’ through a typical ‘rescuing’ procedure: analogy. As Sihler (1995:109) puts it: “In
Greek the inherited pattern [of Ablaut] have been analogically extended, leveled and otherwise
confused” (see also Carruba in this volume). As to Germanic and Latin, the situation is as follows. In
Germanic, the Present vs Perfect, horizontal alternation, as well as the internal alternation between full
and Ø-grade is attested for sure in one type of Perfect only, the so-called ‘Präteritopräsentia’ (see for
example Prokosch [1938: 188ff.], Di Giovine [1996 II:139 ff.] and Clackson [2007:120 ff.]), of the type:
Gothic wait ~ witum (wissa, wiss), corresponding to the above mentioned oida vs ~ id-men and ve´da ~
vidmá (there are about ten examples of this type).
***
AF: yes, they are few but they are excellent, and they belong to a well defined semantic set of modals.
***
In Latin, the overall Ablaut system, including that of the Perfect, admittedly, is quite different from the
Indo-Iranian and Greek one, although opinions may vary on how to interpret such a wide difference,
such a “ruin”, as Sihler (1995:109) defines it. For example, Di Giovine (1996, II:140 -1) stresses the
basic independence of the Latin Perfect system from the I-E one, because there are no safe instances
either of o-grade in the radical syllable or of alternation between ‘strong’ ~ ‘weak’ grades within the
declension:

Nella flessione del perfectum latino ….. non si evidenziano sicuri esempi di continuazione di un
grado vocalico *-o- nella sillaba radicale ……. si deve anche osservare che non esistono esempi di
alternanza tra forme forti e forme deboli all’interno della flessione del perfectum [‘In the
conjugation of the Latin Perfect one cannot find safe examples of the continuation of an *-o-grade
in the radical syllable… and there are no examples of alternation between strong and weak forms
within the conjugation of the Perfectum’. ]
***
AF: I fully agree with the extremely troublesome situation shown in Latin. I would personally conclude
that that the ablaut -o- for perfect is not of PIE dating but a more dialectal innovation.
***
On the contrary, Sihler (ibidem) argues in favor of the basic I-E character of the Latin Perfect, although
a series of innovations would have almost completely “obscured” its original shape (see the chapter by
Di Giovine in this volume on the Perfect and the I-E verbal system in general)

In order to quantify this situation, I counted those roots whose reconstructions include both the
present and perfect tense e/o alternation. In seventeen of these reconstructed roots, none of the daughter
language groups displayed the alternation in question. In other words, here the alternation has been
reconstructed in the absence of any actual evidence, using the assumptions of the model alone. Further,
in the vast majority of the roots (73), only one daughter language group showed the alternation. This
evidence, if interpreted without the bias of the model, clearly suggests that the alternation is simply of
local origin. Figure (III) below shows the full results of the counting. The Present / Perfect alternation is
in fact supported by only eight roots that meet the ‘three witnesses’ criterion (See Table (II) below for
the list of these 8 roots). Examining these roots in more detail, one finds that even these do not provide
straightforward evidence for the alternation because: a) 6 of them contain laryngeal segments; b) 7 of
them include Sanskrit, where e and o merge into a:

To take a concrete example of how an attested verbal form in a given language can be associated to just
one out of the set of variants of its reconstructed root, without necessarily displaying any horizontal and
/ or internal gradation, let us consider the root *bhueh2-‘to grow, originate / be created, become, be’
(LIV: 83-5), whose Present and Perfect forms are, respectively:

Pres. *bhéuh2 -e- ~ *bhuh2 -ié-vs Perf. *bhe-bhuóh2 / bhuh2-

This is one of the few potentially, ‘statistically good’ roots, in the sense that the Present, the Perfect and
also the Aorist (whose alternative forms are *bhuéh2 - / bhuh2-) are actually attested in at least three
languages (see lexical item (6) in Table (II) below).
Nevertheless, most attested verbal forms derive from just one of the reconstructed variants of the
assumed set of alternations. For example, associated with the Perfect there are the following,
nonalternating forms: (LIV 1998: 83; 2002: 98):

• Sanskrit (Vedic): Perf. ba-bhū´-va ‘he / she is (has become)’;

• Greek: Perf. pephuasi. ‘they are / have grown’;
• Oscan: Perf. fufens ‘were’;
• Old Norse: Pret. bjó ‘lived’

The Oscan Imperfect form fufans ‘were’ would derive still from just one variant of the Perfect of the
root, this being the full grade: *bhe-bhueh2 (according to footnote (24) of LIV 1998; but see also Sihler
(1995: 554-5), according to whom there are uncertainties regarding the precise shape of the original
stem). Similarly, associated with the Aorist are the following, non-alternating forms, all derived from
the single variant *bhuh2-:

• Vedic: Aor. á-bhū-t ‘he / she has become’;

• Greek: Aor. e-phū ‘he /she grew, became, originated’;
• Old Latin: Conj. fu-as ‘you should be’;
• Latin: Perf. fū-ī ‘I was’;
• Old Lithuanian: bit(i) ‘he was’;
• Old Church Slavic: by ‘he was’;
• ultimately, also Modern English be (a finite stem in Old English béom, bist etc.; see Sihler
1995:552).

The only alternating forms available, derived from both internal variants of the Aorist, are the Old Irish
ones: 3rd Sing. boí ‘was’ alternating with 3rd Plu. -bátar ‘were’. Furthermore, as one can see, not
necessarily an attested tense / mood derives from the respective, reconstructed one, as shown by the case
of the Latin Perfect fui, and, ultimately, the Present forms of Modern and Old English, all derived from
one variant of the reconstructed Aorist. This type of mismatch between tense and /or mood categories
are encountered frequently in the process of reconstruction, and in LIV. Although we are dealing with a
general and common phenomenon, the fact remains that these mismatches between the reconstructed
and the actual, attested tense/mood categories further increase the flexibility of the explanatory system,
especially in connection with the variety of meanings admitted for most reconstructed roots. In the
specific case of *bhueh2, the root is associated with several basic meanings, six variants and one
laryngeal segment (see Table (II) below). All these elements, coupled with the fact that this root alone
has in the Rigveda several thousand forms -- of which there are over twenty instances of the Perfect
stem --clearly grossly increase the possibility of ‘picking up’ the form suitable to obtain the desired
match.
***
AF: I agree that there are possibly three different roots mixed up under that item.
***
Let us now give a couple of examples of how, on many occasions, one (extra) variant (tense /
mood alternation, one of the many forms of Present, or a variant enlarged with a primary suffix), has
been ‘appended’ to the reconstruction in order to account for just one language / language branch:

*deuh2 ‘to fit together’ (1998: 106; 2001:123)

Aorist: *déuh2-/ duh2-Tocharian B tsuwa ‘fit together’
Present: *du-né /n-h2- Greek dunamai ‘can’

*twerH ‘to grasp’ (1998:596-7; 2001:656)

Kausative: *twortH-éie- Old Church Slavic tvoriti ‘create /do’
Essive: *twrH-h1ié- Lithuanian turiù ‘hold / have’

To conclude this paragraph, two final observations: a) quite often, the single languages for which one
more variant has been appended to the reconstruction of a root are Tocharian and Hittite;
***
AF: This is rather a *good* point, rather than a bad one.
***
b) the number of variants that constitute the set of alternative reconstructions in LIV can rise up to 13.
From the facts and analyses as reported in the points (A) and (B) bove one can draw the conclusion that
the great majority of the morpho-phonemic alternations reported in LIV are not real, inherited
alternations, but just artefacts, a fabrication of the method of analysis.
***
AF: No. Even though I agree with some points, like the dubious case of Latin, the problem of the omni-
root *buH-, this conclusion cannot be accepted.
***

2. 3. Filtering out the artefacts

One can make a very rough estimate of the effect of filtering out the artefacts described above. If a root
is reconstructed with more variants than language groups/branches to support them, then it should be
discounted as having no significance. Putting this more mathematically, one can define the ‘Intrinsic
significance’ (S) value of a root as the amount by which the number of language groups (G) exceeds the
number of variants (V), that is, S = G -V. Roots with a ‘negative’ Intrinsic Significance value are those
displaying more variants than language groups/branches – with the appropriate, attested morpho-
phonemic alternation -- to support them, and therefore are of doubtful significance.
Of the 357 roots listed in LIV whose reconstruction has been achieved without the aid of the Laryngeal
Theory, 39 (11%) have a ‘positive’ Intrinsic Significance value, i.e. their reconstruction contains more
languages / language branches as witnesses of the reconstruction than variants. Of these, 29 roots (7%)
are reconstructed on the basis of three or more language branches witnesses, and may therefore be
regarded as qualified candidates to be statistically significant correspondences, and therefore to properly
support the stated Laws of Indo-European. Thus, according to this analysis, there is indeed a set of
reconstructed roots that can be considered as candidates which might reflect genuine I-E correlations,
but its number is only a very small portion of the total – just 7% of the roots listed in LIV that do not
contain laryngeal segments – much more than this of course (as shown in the graph below) if one
accepts without reservations the laryngeal theory. (Notice however that this positive evaluation does not
take into account the number of Laws and adjustable parameters needed to reconstruct the roots in
question).
***
AF: as noted before, there are two flaws: the LIV does not cite all verb forms and does not cite the
derivatives of the same root which belong to other parts of speech.
***

2. 4. The Laryngeal theory: adding extra flexibility to the system?

Let us now come back to Figure (II) above (par. 2. 2. 2), whose graph suggests that, on average, one
new variant has been ‘appended’ to the reconstruction with each newly claimed daughter language
group, with the exception of a very small number of roots (4%). In other words, these roots have a
higher average Intrinsic Significance than the others (S > Ø below the dotted line). Brady &
Marcantonio (2003) have looked for a possible explanation for the departure from linearity of these 4%
of roots whose reconstruction is supported by 6 or more daughter languages / language groups. A closer
investigation has revealed that these significant roots are more likely to have been reconstructed using
laryngeal segments. This in turn suggests that ‘appending’ laryngeal segments increases the flexibility of
the model, as an alternative to ‘appending’ more variants. The laryngeal theory is now accepted, and
considered to be settled, by the great majority of scholars, and it certainly goes beyond the scope of this
paper to deal with the rights or wrongs of the theory. Here, as mentioned, I just limit myself to observe
the effects the Laryngeal Theory (or at least the specific version of it adopted by LIV) may have on the
flexibility and the statistical significance of the corpus under investigation.
***
AF: Where is the “flexibility” when these laryngeals are directly attested in Anatolian (and Hurrian) and
can be determined thanks to a large array of features?
This theory has on the contrary the advantage of accounting for a large array of phenomena with one
single cause. This is more on the side of Occam's razor than flexibility.
***
Matching vowel alternations across the I-E area (in both the mono-syllabic and by-syllabic roots)
on the basis of actual evidence has always proven difficult, if not impossible, before the introduction of
the laryngeal theory – as clearly illustrated in the chapter by Carruba in this volume. This is clearly
recognised by LIV (p. 4) when it states that, without such a theory, “Morphostrukturen und Bildungs-
regeln des Urindogermanischen nicht verständlich sind”. The dictionary adopts a system with four
laryngeals, h1, h2, h3, + a not well specified H. In particular, h1, h2, h3 (according to LIV, p. 5),
“Können fast jeden Platz einnehmen und an fast jeder Stelle zusätzlich zu den anderen Radikalen
stehen”. LIV does not divulge any information about the number of Laws and related contextual
specifications needed to govern the complex behaviour of these segments, although one can expect such
a number to be quite high. Given such an abundance of segments, coupled with their (relative) freedom
of occurrence and the increased number of rules, one may reasonably expect to find a certain amount of
apparent matches in this corpus. The possibility of ‘picking’ the appropriate form to make the wanted
match is further increased by the existence of the forth, unspecified laryngeal --a real ‘passe-partout’ –
and by the monosyllabic character of many of the roots --mono-syllabic roots are, in general, quite easy
to match, as shown by Ringe (1999).
The intuitive observation that, in these conditions, matches are extremely easy to find, is
confirmed by a proper, quantitative analysis. In fact, I have investigated the distribution of the laryngeal
segments in LIV, with the purpose of ‘quantifying’ the effects the use of laryngeal segments bring into
the equation. The results are illustrated in the graph below, figure (V). This graph shows that the roots
displaying a higher Intrinsic Significance value -- i.e. more claimed daughter language groups than
variants (other things being equal; see figure (IV) above) -- are more likely to have been reconstructed
by making recourse to the Laryngeal Theory. This suggests that the flexibility afforded by inserting
laryngeals segments into the reconstructions makes it easier to find a fortuitous match in a new language
group.

To conclude this section, it is worth observing that, despite the extra degree of flexibility the overall
explanatory system is granted with, thanks to the laryngeal segments, there are still exceptions left over
in the domain of vowel alternations. Sihler (1995:131) proposes the following justification to account
for the exceptions, and for the fact that, as we have seen, the actual evidence from most I-E languages
typically points to “non-ablauting” forms:

Even though the origins of ablaut … were necessarily phonological, by the earliest period
reachable by the comparative method the distribution of different ablaut grades in PIE had been
MORPHOLOGIZED, that is, a given form or class of forms was associated with a certain grade in
PIE. This is particularly true of the distribution of e- vs. o-grades.. … As is to be expected when
phonological alternations are captured by morphology, the system was never completely regular;
…..Thus, evidence points to a non-ablauting root *bhu- or bhuH- ‘become’

This statement, in my opinion, is a concrete testimony of how it may be very difficult, if not impossible,
to falsify the I-E theory, since one can always bridge the gaps between the predictions of the model and
the actual data through ad-hoc explanations that will then be granted the status of a (more or less)
general principle.
***
AF: the issue is more to know which languages are accounted for by the “model” and which level of
ancientness is described in the “model”?
All that derogatory tone is unsupported by any real fact.
***
3. The statistically significant evidence for Indo-European
3. 1. The ‘best’ Indo-European roots
Let us now have a look at the most widely represented roots – 6 or more branches/groups – which are
listed Table (I) below. This table shows their reconstruction, the presence vs absence of laryngeal
segments and the various meanings of the actual attested forms, as given in LIV. In other words, this
Table shows the ‘Intrinsic Significance’ value of each of these statistically relevant roots, that is,
basically, the significance a root displays taking into account also all those factors that may contribute to
the ease of finding a match.
At first glance these roots do display a positive Intrinsic Significance value, because they are
supported by a high number of language witnesses and are reconstructed through a (relatively) small
amount of variants. These are, therefore, the ‘best’ matches for I-E. However, the high significance
value of these roots is potentially undermined by two factors: the frequent recourse to the Laryngeal
Theory, which, however much justified and correct, does add an extra degree of flexibility to the
explanatory system (as argued for in the previous paragraph),
***
AF: this is clearly false. It would seem that observable phonemes such as laryngeals that account for a
large array of phenomena should be discarded as a kind of ad-hoc flexible explanations.
***
and the high variety of meanings often involved.
***
AF: this is indeed not infrequently a problem.
***
A root whose attested forms display a high variety of meanings clearly has less significance,
because more meanings multiply the ease with which a connection can be made, as is known. The
‘Significance Estimate’ can be expressed through the following formula: ‘G -V -M’ (Groups minus
Variants minus Meanings). On the basis of this measure, for example, a simple root that meets the three-
witnesses criterion and has only one meaning and one (variant) form of the root, has a significance of
‘one’. More meanings or variants, or laryngeal segments, reduce the Significance value because of the
reasons expounded above. According to this measure then the only roots which are highly significant,
being represented in all / most language groups without having to make recourse to a high number of
variants are the root *bher- (which, however, has three meanings) and the root *h1es-‘to be’ (which
contains one laryngeal segment).
Whatever the case, and whatever relevance one might accord to factors such as presence (vs
absence) of laryngeals and (wide) variety of meanings, the fact remains that the really statistically
significant roots, according to this measure, are only just an extremely small number (only 14) with
respect to the overall, high number of roots listed in LIV. Last, but not least, there is to be remembered
that there are often mismatches between what is considered to be a (more or less) regular set of
correspondences between LIV and other dictionaries, as shown, for example, by the root for ‘to milk’
(*h2melg’ ), classified by Ernout-Meillet (1959) as belonging to the ‘popular, familiar’ variety of
language and, therefore, as irregular and /or poorly represented across I-E. See also Buck (1949: 385-6)
and Belardi (2002:140ff.) for a similar evaluation of this root, and other similar roots.

Insert Table I here

3. 2. The best Present / Perfect alternations

In Table (II) below I have listed those 8 roots which, while being statistically relevant, also appear to
display what could be called a ‘proper’ Present / Perfect alternation, that is an alternation that is not only
reconstructed, not only assumed, but is actually attested in the relevant languages /language groups.
Once again, at least according to the quantitative analysis carried out here, the number of roots
displaying ‘proper’ alternations is rather low:
Insert Table II here

3. 3. The nominal roots

In this last paragraph I would like to compare the state of the verbal roots with that of the nominal roots,
or lexemes (to use a more appropriate definition), although briefly, since a detailed analysis of the latter
is outside the scope of this chapter (for a recent overview of the state of the I-E lexemes see Clackson
[2007:187 ff.]).
I have argued above that the great majority of the morphophonemic alternations reported in LIV
are not real alternations, but rather artefacts of the method of analysis, that is: most variants have been
‘appended’ to the reconstruction of a given root in order to facilitate a difficult match.
***
AF: it's impossible to adhere to that kind of conclusions.
***
This thesis appears to be supported by the following fact, since long recognised in the specialist
literature: ordinary nouns / lexemes display a much higher degree of irregularity than verbal roots or
verbal nouns (see for example Meillet [1934: 289 ff., 379-416, 396]; Benveniste [1935:175-ff.]; Belardi
[2002:141ff.], Campanile [1983]; see also Ernout-Meillet [1959] and Schlerath [1987]). Meillet
discusses at length the ordinary nouns, including those belonging to the basic, every-day vocabulary,
which he names “vocabulaire populaire”. The Author observes that most of these terms are not proper
correspondences, either because they present irregularities (at least in some of the languages where they
are attested), or because they cannot be safely traced back to a common, I-E source, being the various
terms rather different in the various branches, or a mixture of both factors. Besides, often these nouns
only occur within three or even two contiguous languages (as already pointed out by Schmidt [1872]).
These terms include the nouns for: ‘goat’, ‘dog’, ‘fox’, ‘bee’, ‘honey’, ‘milk’ (a related milking and
feeding activity), ‘nail’, ‘spleen’, ‘bone’, ‘palm’ (of hand), ’sheep’, ‘night’, ‘four’, ‘wolf’, ‘bull’, ‘pig’,
‘nose’, ‘tongue’, ‘shoulder’, ‘eyes’, ‘mouth’, ‘ears’, ‘brother-in-law’, ‘horse’ and several kinship terms
referring to the semantic domain of ‘the family of the woman / wife’ and that of ‘distant relations’ (for a
recent assessment of the status of reconstructed kinship terms see Clackson [2007:200 ff.]). Interestingly
enough, Benveniste (1935:175), while trying to justify this state of affairs, observes that the nominal
roots, unlike the verbal roots, “ne permettent pas de définir une racine, … n’offrent pas d’alternance
radicale”, by this meaning that the verbal roots are much more regular than ordinary nouns thanks to
their typical, alternating structure. A similar way of thinking appears to lie behind the following words
by Clackson (2007:1901):

It is possible that ….our rules for deriving affixed forms from roots may be a construct of the
comparative process. We rely on roots as the base of derivation since we can reconstruct roots with
more confidence than we can reconstruct individual lexemes. Roots may be shared across many
languages, while a particular lexical formation is only found in a small number of languages These
observations, according to the analyses presented in this chapter, could be interpreted and re-
phrased as follows: because of the very fact that ordinary nouns do not, indeed, display that rich
alternation (supposedly) typical of the verbal roots, there is less room to ‘pick and chose’ among
variants, and, therefore, less opportunity to justify, or ‘explain away’, the encountered
irregularities. Not only, the fact that it is much more difficult to reconstruct “individual lexemes”
may be an indication that the I-E roots, as conventionally reconstructed (including their assumed,
intricate and often unjustified derivational procedures) are indeed an artefact of the method of
analysis.

4. Conclusion
The quantitative analyses carried out above show that the lexical comparative corpus and the Present /
Perfect, e ~ o alternation assembled in LIV definitively lack statistical significance. It is reasonable
therefore to assume that most of the correspondences and most of the Present / Perfect alternations under
discussion are chance resemblances, artefacts of the traditional method of analysis. However, these very
same analyses have also individuated those roots and those Present / Perfect alternations that do display
statistical significance and are therefore most likely to represent genuine linguistic correlations, although
the number of these ‘good’ roots and alternations is lamentably low.
***
AF: there are obvious flaws in the approach, which ruin any such conclusion.
***

What are then the conclusions to be drawn from this? As mentioned above, the conclusions to be drawn
may vary according to which position scholars hold with regard to the following, basic methodological
issues: a) how relevant, how ‘diagnostic’ are the lexical correspondences in general, and therefore within
I-E, as against the morphological correspondences? b) How many good correspondences, if any, are
required, or at least desirable, in order to establish and ‘prove beyond reasonable doubt’ a language
family? c) How relevant are the morpho-phonological correlations of the type examined above for the
task of assessing genetic relations? And, if they do rate quite high in this task, would that small bunch of
Present / Perfect, ‘proper’ alternations cutting across several (but not all) I-E languages constitute a
diagnostic clue of relatedness? Is the comparative method a heuristic method or not? Are ‘obvious’,
‘compelling’ correlations (that is, those clearly observable through the naked eye of the trained scholar)
good enough to assume, if not prove beyond doubts, genetic relatedness, etc.? Certainly, if no consensus
is attained on these issues, drawing ‘a’ conclusion from the analyses carried out here will turn out to be
impossible.
Whatever the answers to these fundamental questions may be, my personal opinion is that the
circularity issue embedded in the comparative method has not (yet) been resolved and that, as a
consequence, the I-E theory, as it stands today, is unable to make clear-cut and testable predictions. On
the contrary, the I-E theory appears to be still flexible enough to be adjustable (and adjusted) to account
for almost any data. To use the words of an eminent physicist, W. Pauli, a theory of this sort may be
regarded as: “not even wrong”.
***
AF: Well, how come this theory is not flexible enough to account for non-IE data?
***

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