1. Nostratic, from which IE and Hurrian-
Urartian developed, had gone through a Pontic stage, during
which the earlier contrasts of CE, CA, and
CO, were supplemened by glides: CyE,
CA, and CwO.
a. E, A, and O were
leveled to A, yielding: CyA,
CA, and CwA, which became phonemic.
1). A (open central vowel) may have had a stress-accented
allophone of 6 (schwa = close central
vowel).
b. This vocalic development enabled Ablaut gradations to take place in
IE, and vowel patterning in Semitic (but not Egyptian).
2. In all Nostratic branches except Hurrian-Urartian, PL
(P)F/FH was
voiced to /w/hw/.
3. In all Nostratic branches, PL ¿(y)E
became /j/.
4. Hurrian-Urartian
a.Glottalized stops were indicated in Hurrian
by the corresponding voiceless stop but in Urartian, by the corresponding voiced stops; aspirated
stops were deaspirated, and indicated in Hurrian-Urartian by voiceless stops.
b.Labial and dorsal glottalized affricates were
de-affricated, and voiced in Hurrian-Urartian, in which they were indicated by voiced
stops (Urartian) or voiceless stops and non-doubled stops medially (Hurrian); aspirated
labial and dorsal aspirated affricates were de-affricated, and indicated by voiceless
stops (Hurrian-Urartian) or doubled stops medially (Hurrian).
1).The apical glottalized affricate was
deglottalized and voiced to /dz/ in Hurrian-Urartian, and was written
s in Hurrian and S (emphatic, dotted s) in Urartian; the
apical aspirated affricate was de-aspirated to /ts/ , and was written
s in Hurrian-Urartian.
c.Unaspirated spirants were voiced in
Hurrian-Urartian; aspirated spirants were deaspirated and W[H] was devoiced; both were interdentalized, resulting in v and f, written u/w and u/w+u/w.
d.The dorsal nasal was
denasalized, and backed to uvular /g/, i.e. /G/, written q. Aspiration was lost
in all nasals and R([H]). The phoneme rw became lw.
e.The voiced pharyngal fricative became
/j/, written i. The voiceless pharyngal fricative becomes /x/ medially, written h, but /h/ initially, which is unindicated. The voiceless laryngal (glottal) stop was maintained though not unindicated in Hurrian but written ' in Urartian. The voiceless laryngal (glottal) fricative was maintained but unindicated in Hurrian or Urartian.
f).These developments resulted in the following
consonantal inventory for Hurrian-Urartian:
{press to see}
Equivalencies
I. PP glottalized stops and affricates became Hurrian unvoiced stops except PP t?sy
becomes Hurrian-Urartian z (presumably ts(h)); possibly, the former affricates (except t?sy)
were aspirated and lengthened the following vowel before aspiration disappeared:
p?, t?, k? -> pIa, Ib, tIc, Id, Ie, If, kIg;
p?f, t?s, k?x -> p(h)(V:?)Ih, t(h)(V:?)Ii, [zIj],
k(h)(V:?)Ik, Il.
Exx.:
______________________
II. PP aspirated stops and affricates became Hurrian unvoiced stops; possibly, the former
affricates were aspirated and lengthened the following vowel before aspiration disappeared:
ph, th, kh -> pIIa, tIIb, kIIc,IId,IIe,IIf;
pfh, tsh, kxh -> p(h)(V:?)IIg, t(h)(V:?)IIh, k(h)(V:?)IIi.
Exx.:
______________________
III. PP unaspirated spirants remained but f was voiced to v:
f, s, x -> v [written w/u]IIIa, IIIb, s [written š]IIIc, x
[written h]IIId, IIIe.
Exx.:
______________________
IV. PP aspirated spirants remained but fh was voiced to v; while becoming unaspirated,
aspirated spirants may have lengthened the following vowel.
fh, sh, xh -> v(h)(V:?) (written w[w])IVa, s(h)(V:)
(written š?[š])IVb, IVc, IVd, x(h)(V:?) (written h[h])IVe.
1)) A reluctance to realize the sequence wo/wu modified o/u after w to a/a:IVa;
Exx.:
______________________
V. PP unaspirated nasals remained; however, q in Hurrian-Urartian probably represents
not ng, a voiced dorsal nasal, but unvoiced 'back (uvular) K':
m, n, q -> mVa, nVb, q [written q but probably K]Vc .
Exx.:
______________________
VI. PP aspirated nasals remained and may have lengthened the following vowel before
de-aspiratization. PP q was devoiced to 'back (uvular) K' (written q but occasionally k).
mh, nh, qh -> m(V:?)VIa, VIb, n(V:?)VIc, VId, q(V:?) [written q but pronounced k@.]VIe (see
above) / kVIf.
1) there is a fluctuation and confusion among n, r, l8 which reminds us of the Egyptian n,
which is either n or l(y), and Egyptian r, which is either r or l(w);
Exx.:
______________________
VII, PP unaspirated and aspirated r remained but aspirated rhw became l(w). Any r
(except rhw) was devoiced in initial position and disappeared if not inverted after a vowel. In
addition, aspirated r may have lengthened the following vowel:
r -> rVIIa rhy/-(6) [rhw(6)] -> rVIIIb, VIIIc/Ø (initial) [lVIId].
Exx.:
______________________
VIII. ?, the PP glottal stop, becomes Ø VIIIa, VIIIb,
VIIIc; however, the sequence ?6¿ irregularly becomes haiIj.
Exx.:
______________________
IX. h, the PP glottal (laryngal) fricative, probably lengthens the following or preceding
vowel (if closing the syllable), and becomes (V:?)Ø(V:?)IXa.
Exx.:
______________________
X. ¿, the PP voiced pharyngal fricative, becomes yXa [i (in a closed syllable),
initially/finally]:
initial ya -> i:Xa, Xb, Xc.
Exx.:
______________________
XI. hh, the PP voiceless pharyngal fricative, becomes h. (written h/hhXIa, XIb).
Exx.:
______________________
XII. The Grundvokal, representing PP 6, is a (å); ay (from V+¿) becomes e/i and aw
(from V+f/fh) becomes o [written u]. Lengthened vowels retain the "coloring" (or lack of it)
occasioned by the PP glides: y6:, -6:, w6: become e:/i:, a:, o: (written u(-u).