Stang's law

Stang's law is a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) phonological rule named after the Norwegian linguist Christian Stang.

Overview

The law governs the word-final sequences of a vowel, followed by a semivowel ( or ) or a laryngeal (), followed by a nasal. According to the law these sequences are simplified such that laryngeals and semivowels are dropped, with compensatory lengthening of a preceding vowel.

This rule is usually cited in more restricted form as: and ( denoting a vowel and a long vowel).

Often the rules and also are added:

• PIE 'sky' (accusative singular) > > Sanskrit , acc. sg. of , Latin (which served as the basis for Latin 'day'), Greek () (reformed after Homeric Greek to , subsequently ), acc. of ()
• PIE 'cow' (acc. sg.) > > Sanskrit , acc. sg. of , Greek (Homeric and dialectal) (), acc. sg. of () 'cow'
• acc. sg. of PIE 'house' is , not .
• acc. sg. of PIE 'grain' after laryngeal colouring is the disyllabic , not trisyllabic

See also

• Glossary of sound laws in the Indo-European languages
• Szemerényi's law

References