Augment (linguistics)
In linguistics, the augment is a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages, most notably Greek, Armenian, and the Indo-Iranian languages such as Sanskrit, to form the past tenses.
Contents
Indo-European languages
Historical linguists are uncertain whether the augment is a feature that was added to these branches of Indo-European, or whether the augment was present in the parent language and lost by all other branches (see also Proto-Greek).
Greek
Ancient Greek
In Ancient Greek, the verb λέγω légo “I say” has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa “I said”. The initial ε e is the augment. When this comes before a consonant, it is called the "syllabic augment", because it adds a syllable. Sometimes the syllabic augment appears before a vowel, because the initial consonant of the verbal root (usually digamma) was lost:[1]
- *έ-ϝιδον → (loss of digamma) *ἔιδον → (synaeresis) εἶδον
When the augment is added before a vowel, the augment and the vowel are contracted, and the vowel becomes long: akoúō "I hear", ḗkousa "I heard". This is sometimes called the "temporal augment", because it increases the time needed to pronounce the vowel.[2]
Homeric Greek
In Homer, past-tense (aorist or imperfect) verbs appeared both with and without an augment.
- ὣς φάτο — ὣς ἔφατο
hṑs pháto — hṑs éphato
"so he/she said" - ἦμος δ᾿ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,
êmos d' ērigéneia phánē rhododáktulos Ēṓs,
"And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"
Modern Greek
Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables. However, accented syllabic augments remained in place.[3] So Ancient ἔλυσα, ἐλύσαμεν "I loosened, we loosened" corresponds to Modern έλυσα, λύσαμε (élisa, lísame).[4] Temporal augment has not survived in the vernacular, which leaves the initial vowel unaltered: Ancient ἀγαπῶ, ἠγάπησα "I love, I loved"; Modern αγαπώ, αγάπησα (agapó, agápisa).
Sanskrit
Sanskrit had the augment अ- / a-, prefixed to past-tense verbs (aorist and imperfect). [5]
| stem | present | aorist | imperfect | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ध / dhã | दधति / dadhãti | अधत् / adhãt | अदधत् / adadhãt | put |
| गम् / gam | गच्छति / gacchati | अगमत् / agamat | अगच्छत् / agacchat | go |
Other
- Phrygian seems to have had an augment.
- Classical Armenian had an augment,[6] in the form of e-.
- Yaghnobi, an East Iranian language spoken in Tajikistan, has an augment.
Non-Indo-European languages
The term has also been extended to describe similar features in non-Indo-European languages.
In Nahuatl, the perfect ō- prefix is called an augment.
In certain Bantu languages such as Zulu, the term "augment" refers to the initial vowel of a noun class prefix, such as (in Zulu) umu-, ama-. This vowel can be present or absent according to grammatical rules.
References
- ↑ Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. par. 429: syllabic augment.
- ↑ Smyth. par. 435: temporal augment.
- ↑ Browning, Robert (1983). Medieval and Modern Greek (p58).
- ↑ Sophroniou, S.A. Modern Greek. Teach Yourself Books, 1962, Sevenoaks, p79.
- ↑ Coulson, Michael. Teach yourself Sanskrit. p. 244. Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, Sevenoaks.
- ↑ Clackson, James. 1994. The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek. London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing)
