Centum-Satem isoglossFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, s

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"Centum" redirects here. For other uses, see Centum (disambiguation).
Very approximate diachronic map showing the Centum (blue, except that Tocharian
on the east is grey) and Satem (red) areals. The hypothetical area of origin of
Satemization according to the innovator of the idea, Von Bradke, is shown in dar
ker red, which happens also to be the range of the Sintashta/Abashevo/Srubna cul
tures. Whether the map is accurate in many of its other details depends on the t
ime period considered; for example, Roman Spain is shown accurately on the map a
s Centum, but before the Romans it was not Indo-European.The Centum-Satem divisi
on is an isogloss of the Indo-European language family, related to the different
evolution of the three dorsal consonant rows of the mainstream reconstruction o
f Proto-Indo-European:
*k?, *g?, *g?? (labiovelars)
*k, *g, *g? ("plain velars")
*?, *?, *?? ("palatovelars")
The terms Centum Group and Satem Group come from the words for the number "one h
undred" in a traditional representative language of each group: Latin centum and
Avestan sat?m. The initial consonant in these two examples comes from the Indo-
European "palatovelar" consonant, *?, which became in the first case a simple ve
lar, and in the second a sibilant.
The terms "palatovelar" and "plain velar" are in quotes because they are traditi
onal terms but do not reflect current thinking, which holds that the "palatovela
rs" were actually plain velars, e.g. [k], while the "plain velars" were pronounc
ed farther back in the mouth, perhaps as uvular consonants (e.g. [q]).
The Satem languages (which have the sibilant where the centum equivalents have t
he velar) include Indo-Iranian, Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Albanian, and perhaps al
so a number of barely documented extinct languages, such as Thracian-Dacian.[1]
This group changed PIE palatovelars into sibilants, retaining PIE plain velars a
nd merging PIE labiovelars into them to form an expanded velar group. It is some
times suggested that the plain velars and the labiovelars were not merged in Pro
to-Albanian,[2] but this is not a mainstream viewpoint. Balto-Slavic is largely
Satem but evidences Centum development in some words, suggesting that "Satemizat
ion" was incomplete or operated according to different principles than in the ot
her Satem languages.
The Centum group includes all remaining dialects, i.e. Italic, Celtic, Germanic,
Hellenic, Tocharian, Anatolian and possibly a number of lesser-known extinct gr
oups (such as Ancient Macedonian and Venetic). This group merged PIE palatovelar
s and plain velars, yielding plain velars (but see below about Anatolian).
The Satem languages share some innovations in common (particularly, the ruki sou
nd law), while the Centum languages have no common innovations, and in fact incl
ude the two groups that split off the earliest, i.e. Anatolian and Tocharian. Fu
rthermore, the Satem languages occur in a contiguous region approximately in the
middle of the PIE area, while the Centum languages occur in a discontiguous are
a partly surrounding the Satem languages. This strongly suggests that "Satemizat
ion" was a single areal sound change, which occurred less completely in Balto-Sl
avic (at the edge of the area) than elsewhere, while "Centumization" was actuall
y a set of unrelated changes occurring independently in multiple language groups
. This is easy to understand given the current conception of the PIE values of t
he three dorsal series, where Centumization involves nothing more than the elimi
nation of the velar-uvular distinction, which is typologically fairly rare and i
n any case carried very little functional load in PIE. Satemization, however, wa
s a more substantial change, involving the fronting of PIE velars and the unroun
ding of PIE labiovelars.
In addition, recent evidence from Luwian indicates that all three series were ma
intained separately in Proto-Anatolian,[3] and the Centumization observed in Hit
tite only occurred after the breakup of Common Anatolian.[4]
Tocharian is an additional puzzle in that it largely reflects a situation where
all three PIE dorsal series as well as all voicing/aspiration distinctions (orig
inally constituting nine separate consonants) have merged into a single phoneme
/k/. This has led some writers to suggest that Tocharian does not fit the Centum
-Satem model.[5] However, some PIE labiovelars are in fact represented by a labi
ovelar-like element or by a non-original sequence /ku/. Along with other evidenc
e, this suggests that labiovelars were distinct in Proto-Tocharian and only late
r merged with velars (as happened independently in Old Irish and to some extent
in some other languages), making Tocharian a clearly Centum language.[6]
The isogloss only applies to the parent language with the full inventory of dors
als. Later sound changes within a specific branch of Indo-European that are anal
ogous to one of the Centum or Satem changes, such as the palatalization of Latin
k to s in some Romance languages or the merger of *k? with *k in the Goidelic l
anguages, are excluded.
Contents [hide]
The Satem conceptThe Satem languages show characteristic affricate and fricative
consonants articulated in the front of the mouth in inherited Indo-European lex
ical items in which in other languages termed the Centum Languages pure velars a
nd labiovelars, sounds articulated at the back of the mouth, are found. The Sate
m shift is conveniently illustrated with the word for '100', Proto-Indo-European
*(d)?m?tóm, which became Avestan sat?m (hence the name of the group), Persian sad
, Sanskrit atam, Latvian simts, Lithuanian imtas, Old Church Slavonic s?to. Anothe
r example is the Slavic prefix s?(n)- ("with"), which appears in Latin, a centum
language, as co(n)-; conjoin is cognate with Russian soyuz("union").
The sources of the satem sounds and the methods by which they became what they a
re have been debated heavily by Indo-European linguists for many decades. The or
iginator of the concept, Peter von Bradke, believed in a Proto-Indo-European two
-row system of four gutturals each row, the pure velar row: *k, *k?, *g, *g?, an
d the palatovelar row: *?, *??, *?, *??. For example, *? became Sanskrit [?], La
tvian, Avestan, Russian and Armenian s, Lithuanian [?], and Albanian th [?] (but
k before a resonant). Karl Brugmann added the labio-velar row: *k?, *k??, *g?,
*g??, with the proviso that in the Satem languages it merged into the velar row,
losing their accompanying lip-rounding. This merger left the Satem group withou
t labio-velars. Regardless of whether satem words were created from those rows w
ith those articulations in that way, they are definable as satem words.
Satem-like features have arisen multiple times during history (e.g. French cent
pron. [sa]). As a result, it is sometimes difficult to firmly establish which la
nguages were part of the original Satem diffusion and which were affected by sec
ondary assibilation in a later time period. For instance, it is known that the a
ssibilation found in French and Luwian were later developments as linguists have
extensive documentation of Latin and Hittite. However, in the case of Dacian an
d Thracian, there is not enough information on the history of these languages to
conclusively settle the issue of when their Satem-like features originated. Ext
ensive lexical borrowing, such as Armenian from Iranian, may also add to the dif
ficulty. The status of Armenian as a Satem language as opposed to a Centum langu
age with secondary assibilation rests on the evidence of a very few words.
[edit] The Centum conceptThe Centum languages show characteristic pure velars an
d labiovelars articulated at the back of the mouth in inherited Indo-European le
xical items in which in other languages termed the Satem Languages affricate and
fricative consonants articulated in the front of the mouth are found. The name
Centum comes from the Latin word centum (pronounced [kentum]) < PIE *?m?tóm, '100'
, English hund(red)- (with /h/ from earlier *k, see Grimm's law), Greek (he)kato
n, Welsh cant, Tocharian B kante. Labiovelars as single phonemes (for example, /
k?/), as opposed to biphonemes (for example, /kw/) are attested in Greek (the Li
near B q- series), Italic (Latin qu), Germanic (Gothic hwair ? and qair?ra q) an
d Celtic (Ogham ceirt Q). In the Centum languages, the palatovelar consonants me
rged into the plain velars (*k, *g, *g?). The merger left the Centum Group witho
ut palatovelars.
The Centum languages preserve Proto-Indo-European labiovelars (*k?, *g?, *g??) o
r their historical reflexes as distinct from plain velars; for example, PIE *k :
*k? > Latin c /k/ : qu /k?/, Greek ? /k/ : ? /p/ (or ? /t/ before front vowels)
, Gothic /h/ : /h?/, etc. Remnants of labial elements from labiovelars in Balto-
Slavic include Lithuanian ungurys "eel" < *ang?i- , Lithuanian dygus "pointy" <
*d?eig?-. Fewer examples of incomplete Satemization are also known from Indo-Ira
nian, such as Sanskrit guru "heavy" < *g?er-, kulam "herd" < *k?el-; kuru "make"
< *k?er- may be compared, but they arise only post-Rigvedic in attested texts.
Centum-Satem isogloss
"Centum" redirects here. For other uses, see Centum (disambiguation).
The Centum-Satem division is an isogloss of the Indo-European language family, r
elated to the evolution of the three dorsal consonant rows reconstructed for Pro
to-Indo-European, *k? (labiovelars), *k (velars), and *?; (palatovelars). The te
rms come from the words for the number "one hundred" in representative languages
of each group (Latin centum and Avestan sat?m).
The Satem languages include Indo-Iranian, Armenian, Baltic, Slavic, Albanian, an
d perhaps also a number of barely documented extinct languages, such as Thracian
and Dacian. This group merged PIE-velars and PIE-labiovelars to develop into ve
lars, and changed PIE-palatovelars into sibilants. Although Albanian is treated
as a Satem language, there is some evidence that the plain velars and the labiov
elars may not have been completely merged in Proto-Albanian.
The Centum group is often thought of as being identical to "non-Satem", i.e. as
including all remaining dialects. However, this group features a merging of PIE-
velars and PIE-palatovelars to velars in a separate Centum sound change, indepen
dent from and predating the Satem sound change. More specifically, in the sense
of Brugmann's "languages with labialization", the Centum group includes Italic,
Celtic, Germanic, Greek and possibly a number of minor and little known extinct
groups (such as Ancient Macedonian, Venetic and probably the Illyrian languages)
. Tocharian combined all rows into a single velar row and although the relative
chronology of the change is unknown, it lacks the assibilation typical of "Satem
", thus is often considered "Centum".
The Proto-Anatolian language apparently did not undergo either the Satem or the
Centum sound change. The velar rows remain separate in Luwian, while Hittite may
secondarily have undergone a Centum change, but the exact phonology is unclear.
[citation needed]

RomanceGermanicGreekBalticSlavicIranianIndicCelt.Alb.Arm.
Modern situation of the centum-satem isogloss (shown in red)
Contents
1 Proto-Indo-European dorsals
1.1 Satem
1.2 Centum
2 Origins of the sound change
3 Literature
Proto-Indo-European dorsals
The Centum-Satem isogloss explains the evolution of the three dorsal rows recons
tructed for PIE, *k?, *g?, *g?? (labiovelars), *k, *g, *g? (velars), and *?, *?,
*??; (palatovelars) in the daughter languages. A division into a Centum and a S
atem group only makes sense with a view to the parent language with the full inv
entory of dorsals. Later sound changes within a specific branch of Indo-European
that are similar to one of the changes, such as the palatalization of Latin k t
o s in some Romance languages or the merger of *k? with *k in the Goidelic langu
ages, have no effect on the grouping.
August Schleicher in his 1871 Compendium assumes only a single velar row, k, g,
gh. Karl Brugmann in his 1886 Grundriss accepts only two rows, denoting them q,
g, gh "velar explosives" vs. k?, g? and g?h "palatal explosives". Brugmann terms
the Centum languages "languages with labialization" or "u?-languages" and the S
atem languages "languages without labialization", and he opines that
For words and groups of words, which do not appear in any language with labializ
ed velar-sound, [the "pure velars"] it must for the present be left undecided wh
ether they ever had the u?-afterclap. (trans. J. Wright)
By the 1897 edition of his work, Brugmann changed his mind, accepting the centum
vs. satem terminology introduced by von Badke in 1890. Accordingly, he denoted
the labiovelars as qu?, qu?h, gu?, gu?h (also introducing voiceless aspirates).
The presence of three dorsal rows in the proto-language is not universally accep
ted. The reconstructed "middle" row may also be an artifact of loaning between e
arly daughter languages during the process of Satemization. For instance, Oswald
Szemerényi (e.g., in his 1995 Introduction), while recognizing the usefulness of
the distinction *k?, *k, *? as symbolizing sound-correspondences, argues that th
e support for three phonologically distinct rows in PIE is insufficient and pref
ers a twofold notation of *k?, *k. Other scholars who assume two dorsal rows in
PIE include Kury³owicz (1935), Meillet (1937), Lehmann (1952), and Woodhouse (1998
).
The likelihood of three dorsal rows has also been disputed on typological ground
s, but that argument has little merit, since there are, indeed, languages with s
uch a three-row system, for example Northwest Caucasian languages such as Abkhaz
, the Yazgulyam language (an Iranian language, but its system of dorsals is unre
lated to PIE phonology), Hausa and Hopi.
The existence of this feature in Northwest Caucasian languages - a language fami
ly that might have reached geographically to the Indo-European homelands -, adde
d to the poor vowel system and glottalic consonants apparently shared between PI
E and NW Caucasian, may hint at an early Sprachbund [1].

Satem
The Satem languages show the characteristic change of the so-called Proto-Indo-E
uropean palato-velars (*?, *?, *??) into affricate and fricative consonants arti
culated in the front of the mouth. For example, *? became Sanskrit [?], Latvian,
Avestan, Russian and Armenian s, Lithuanian [?], and Albanian th [?]. At the sa
me time, the protolanguage velars (*k, *g, *g?) and labio-velars (*k?, *g?, *g??
) merged in the Satem group, the latter losing their accompanying lip-rounding.
The Satem shift is conveniently illustrated with the word for '100', Proto-Indo-
European *(d)?m?tóm, which became e.g. Avestan sat?m (hence the name of the group)
, Persian sad, Sanskrit atam, Latvian simts, Lithuanian imtas, Old Church Slavonic
s?to etc., as contrasted with Latin centum (pron. [kentum]), English hund(red)-
 (with /h/ from earlier *k, see Grimm's law), Greek (he)katon, Welsh cant, Tocha
rian B kante, etc. Another example is the Latin prefix con- ("with"), which appe
ars in Russian, a satem language, as so-; soyuz ("union") is in fact cognate wit
h "conjoin".
The status of Armenian as a Satem language as opposed to a Centum language with
secondary assibilation like e.g. French (i.e. the collapse of the velars with la
biovelars rather than with the palatovelars) rests on the evidence of a very few
words.

Centum
In the Centum languages, the palato-velar consonants merged with plain velars (*
k, *g, *g?). Most of the Centum languages preserve Proto-Indo-European labio-vel
ars (*k?, *g?, *g??) or their historical reflexes as distinct from plain velars;
for example, PIE *k : *k? > Latin c /k/ : qu /k?/, Greek ? /k/ : ? /p/ (or ? /t
/ before front vowels), Gothic /h/ : /h?/, etc.
The name Centum comes from the Latin word centum '100', < PIE *?m?tóm, illustratin
g the falling together of *k and *?. Compare Sanskrit ata- or Polish sto, in whic
h *? changed into a fricative.
Attestation of labiovelars as actual phonemes /k?/, as opposed to simple biphone
matic /kW/ is attested in Greek (the Linear B q- series), Italic (Latin qu), Ger
manic (Gothic hwair ? and qair?ra q) and Celtic (Ogham ceirt Q). Thus, while usu
ally reconstructed for PIE, the labiovelar quality of this row may also be an in
novation of the Centum group, causally related to the fronting of the palatovela
rs. The chief witness for this question is Anatolian, the phonology of which is
for orthographical reasons not known in detail. Hittite (and Luwian) in any case
chose not to use the existing cuneiform q- series (which stood for a voiceless
uvular stop in Akkadian), but represents reflexes of PIE labiovelars as ku. Opin
ions on whether this represents an Anatolian single phoneme, or a group of /k+w/
are divided. There have been recent claims that the Bangani language of India c
ontains traces of a Centum language, but they are widely considered spurious.

Origins of the sound change

In the 19th century, it was sometimes assumed that the centum-satem isogloss was
the original dialect division of the Indo-European languages. However, Karl Bru
gmann, and in particular Johannes Schmidt, already regarded the Centum/Satem sou
nd changes as an areal feature.
Incomplete Satemization in Baltic, and, to a lesser extent, Slavic, is taken as
an indication of the diffusion of the satem sound change, or, alternatively, due
to loans via early contact of Proto-Baltic and Proto-Germanic speakers. Example
s of remnants of labial elements from labiovelars in Balto-Slavic include Lithua
nian ungurys "eel" < *ang?i- , Lithuanian dygus "pointy" < *d?eig?-, Fewer examp
les of incomplete Satemization are also known from Indo-Iranian, such as Sanskri
t guru "heavy" < *g?er-, kulam "herd" < *k?el-; kuru "make" < *k?er- may be comp
ared, but they arise only post-Rigvedic in attested texts.
Whether areal or dialectal, the centum/satem distinction was long considered to
represent a division of Proto-Indo-European into western and eastern zones. The
example of Tocharian, though, has led to a competing view of the satem sound cha
nge as an innovation radiating outward from the central Indo-European language c
ommunities, but largely failing to reach the west-European or eastern (Tocharian
) peripheries.