Ancient Indo-European Dialects : Proceedings of the Conference on Indo-European Linguistics Held at the University of California, Los Angeles April 25–27, 1963

The topic of the conference was chosen with a view to utilizing to best advantage the unique and varied competences of the participants. Each author was asked to treat the area that best suited his particular specialization in the field of Indo-European languages. It was decided to concentrate on delimitation of subgroups as such, as a necessary first step, rather than attacking at the same time such vast overall dialect issues as the soiam question or the ideas of certain authors regarding "Southern" or "European" dialect groupings. Further reflections on the nature of the general topic and on possible future treatments are found at the end of the final paper in this volume. The discussions accompanying each contribution were recorded; the authors were subsequently provided with the materials pertaining to their papers and asked to ready the latter for print in the light of comments and hindsights. All works published here are such end products, except for those of M. S. Beeler, who did not submit a revised version, and B. Collinder, whose paper is a summary of an oral presentation somewhat apart from the main topic. In editing, we have striven for a reasonable degree of external stylistic uniformity, yet without attempting to cramp the individual propensities of the contributors in regard to such matters as the type of references, quotations, and footnotes. Sometimes current minor variations in symbolizing Indo-European forms have likewise been allowed to stand (e. g., u beside a, k' beside 1c, when preferred by the authors). No general index has been thought necessary, since most papers are relatively selfcontained in their respective areas. Only well-known abbreviations current in Indo-European linguistics have been consistently employed; self-evident partial, or locally explained abbreviations have generally been left to the discretion of the authors. The copy of these proceedings has profited from helpful comments kindly supplied by Professor Yakov Malkiel of the University of California, Berkeley. We also acknowledge with gratitude a generous publication subsidy from the Ford Foundation Grant for International Training and Comparative Studies, administered by the Institute of International and Foreign Studies at UCLA. In presenting the results of these deliberations to the scholarly world at large, we hope to have taken another step toward organized regular self-expression for Indo-European studies in America. May the line drawn from Austin in 1959 to Los Angeles in 1963 extend to other seats of learning in years to come! H. B., J. P. The first book to provide a rigorous and comprehensive view of the linguistic divisions of early Europe, Asia Minor, Northern India, and Chinese Turkestan. The unifying topic "Ancient Indo-European Dialects" was chosen with a view to utilizing to best advantage the many competences of the contributors int eh extinct languages and language groups of early Europe, the Near East, and Central Asia. In this book each specialist treats the subdivision particularly suited to his research interest, yet is always conscious of and conversant with the entire sweep and continuity oft he Indo-European language area. It is an effort at delimiting the historically and methodologically demonstrable subgroupings, including a critique of such time-worn combination as Italo-Celtic and Balto-Slavic, and incorporating the principles of modern dialectology in a diachronic application. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1966.