Sturtevant’s Law

E537338

Sturtevant’s Law is a linguistic principle in Indo-European studies that explains a characteristic pattern of consonant lengthening in Hittite as a reflex of earlier voiceless stops.

Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (33)

Predicate Object
instanceOf linguistic law
phonological rule
sound law
appliesTo Hittite stop consonant system
appliesToLanguage Hittite NERFINISHED
appliesToOrthography cuneiform writing of Hittite
concerns consonant lengthening
stop consonants
voiceless stops
describes a characteristic pattern of consonant lengthening in Hittite
evidenceFor contrast between reflexes of voiced and voiceless Proto-Indo-European stops in Hittite
phonemic distinction between long and short consonants in Hittite
field Indo-European studies NERFINISHED
historical linguistics
hasAbbreviation none commonly standardized
involvesFeature consonant length
gemination
voicing
languageFamily Indo-European language family
surface form: Indo-European
namedAfter Edgar H. Sturtevant NERFINISHED
proposedBy Edgar H. Sturtevant NERFINISHED
relatedTo Indo-European stop system
laryngeal theory
relatesStage Hittite NERFINISHED
Proto-Indo-European NERFINISHED
statesThat Proto-Indo-European voiced stops are reflected as single consonants in Hittite orthography
Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops are reflected as geminate consonants in Hittite orthography
status widely cited in Hittite and Indo-European scholarship
timeOfProposal early 20th century
topicOf debate in Indo-European phonology
typeOfChange regular sound correspondence
usedFor interpretation of Hittite spelling conventions
reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European consonant system

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Edgar H. Sturtevant notableWork Sturtevant’s Law