 | Centum-Satem isogloss: Encyclopedia II - Centum-Satem isogloss - Centum
Centum-Satem isogloss - Centum
In the Centum languages, the palato-velar consonants merged with plain velars (*k, *g, *gʰ). Most of the Centum languages preserve Proto-Indo-European labio-velars (*kʷ, *gʷ, *gʷʰ) or their historical reflexes as distinct from plain velars; for example, PIE *k : *kʷ > Latin c /k/ : qu /kʷ/, Greek κ /k/ : π /p/ (or τ /t/ before front vowels), Gothic /h/ : /hʷ/, etc.
The name Centum comes from the Latin word centum '100', pronounced [ˈkɛntʊm] < PIE *ḱm̥tóm, illustrating the falling together of *k and *ḱ. Compare Sanskrit śata- or Russian sto, in which *ḱ changed into a fricative.
Attestation of labiovelars as actual phonemes /kʷ/, as opposed to simple biphonematic /kw/ is attested in Greek (the Linear B q- series), Italic (Latin qu), Germanic (Gothic hwair ƕ and qairþra q) and Celtic (Ogham ceirt Q). Thus, while usually reconstructed for PIE, the labiovelar quality of this row may also be an innovation of the Centum group, causally related to the fronting of the palatovelars. 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. Opinions on whether this represents an Anatolian single phoneme, or a group of /k+w/ are divided. The likelihood of three dorsal rows has also been disputed on typological grounds, but that argument has little merit, since there are, indeed, languages with such a three-row system, for example the Yazgulyam language (an Iranian language, but its system of dorsals is unrelated to PIE phonology). It is still true that such languages are rare, and one of the three rows is typically quite marginal. It is, then, in any case no surprise that no extant Indo-European language has preserved the full system, even if the parent language really did feature three rows at some point.
There have been recent claims that the Bangani language of India contains traces of a Centum language, but they are widely considered spurious.
Other related archives1871, 1886, 1890, 1897, 1995, Akkadian, Albanian, Anatolian languages, Armenian, August Schleicher, Avestan, Baltic, Balto-Slavic, Bangani language, Celtic, Dacian, English, French, Germanic, Goidelic languages, Gothic, Greek, Grimm's law, Hittite, IF, Illyrian languages, India, Indo-European language, Indo-European languages, Indo-Iranian, Iranian language, Italic, Johannes Schmidt, Karl Brugmann, Kuryłowicz, Latin, Lehmann, Linear B, Linguistic typology, Lithuanian, Luwian, Meillet, Ogham, Oswald Szemerényi, PIE, Persian, Proto-Indo-European, Romance languages, Russian, Sanskrit, Slavic, Thracian, Tocharian, Venetic, Welsh, Yazgulyam language, affricate, ancient Macedonian language, areal feature, cuneiform, dorsal, dorsal consonant, fricative, guru, hwair, isogloss, loanword, palato-velars, velars, voiceless uvular stop
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Centum", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
