DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1167#0182
consonant-final and vowel-initial (!) (Philip Hamilton, Toronto, personal communication;
cf. also Dixon 1980: 208). Old Chinese as reconstructed according to the system by LT
Fanggui has exclusively consonantal syllable codas, but this approach has not gained
wide acceptance (on this question see Baxter 1992: 333-336).
Fecht's reconstruction of Pre-Paleo-Coptic is particularly problematic in that it not only
continues to presuppose the existence of a typologically unnatural language like Paleo-
Coptic, but derives it from another pre-form with phonological characteristics which are
likewise excentric: Languages in which all syllables invariably have the structure CV
are rare, and unknown within the Afroasiatic frame.
We can thus conclude that the traditional syllable structure rules lead to a reconstruction
of Paleo-Coptic which is highly improbable for a natural language. In the following sec-
tion, I propose an alternative reconstruction of Paleo-Coptic which is more natural. We
will see that, in addition to its increased naturalness, the revised reconstruction will al-
low for better explanations of a number of individual phonological problems in Egyptian.
4-7
A revised reconstruction of Paleo-Coptic
When the first scholars defined the syllable structure rules, they alluded to the fact that
the presumed etymological background for the Coptic vowel alternations is often still
present in Coptic. For example, the stressed syllable is closed in CON "brother" whereas
it is open in the morphologically related Ctutie "sister", so the presumed reason for the
apophony 0 - (!) is still apparent (Sethe 1899-1902: I, § 42). It must however be empha-
sized that counterexamples are easy to find in Coptic which show exactly the opposite
distribution (BS5 § 4.1). Thus Coptic does not prevent us from developing a contradicting
theory according to which low vowels arise in open, high vowels in closed syllables. This
is what I suggest here. Let us assume that the choice of high (traditionally: long) vs. low
(traditionally: short) vowels depends on whether the syllable is open or closed in Paleo-
Coptic, however in an opposite way than has been assumed by now:
Coptic vowels
traditional explanation
alternative explanation
CO, 1, H (high)
developed in open syllable
developed in closed syllable
0, &, e (low)
developed in closed syllable
developed in open syllable
This allows for a reconstruction according to which all words end in a vowel. Any
traditional Paleo-Coptic reconstruction can be unambiguously transformed into the
alternative one as follows:
traditional model
new model
~(CS>§ 4.8.2)
'CV
'CVC
'CVCV
'CV:CVC
'CVCCV
'CVCCVC
'CVCVCCV
18a
cf. also Dixon 1980: 208). Old Chinese as reconstructed according to the system by LT
Fanggui has exclusively consonantal syllable codas, but this approach has not gained
wide acceptance (on this question see Baxter 1992: 333-336).
Fecht's reconstruction of Pre-Paleo-Coptic is particularly problematic in that it not only
continues to presuppose the existence of a typologically unnatural language like Paleo-
Coptic, but derives it from another pre-form with phonological characteristics which are
likewise excentric: Languages in which all syllables invariably have the structure CV
are rare, and unknown within the Afroasiatic frame.
We can thus conclude that the traditional syllable structure rules lead to a reconstruction
of Paleo-Coptic which is highly improbable for a natural language. In the following sec-
tion, I propose an alternative reconstruction of Paleo-Coptic which is more natural. We
will see that, in addition to its increased naturalness, the revised reconstruction will al-
low for better explanations of a number of individual phonological problems in Egyptian.
4-7
A revised reconstruction of Paleo-Coptic
When the first scholars defined the syllable structure rules, they alluded to the fact that
the presumed etymological background for the Coptic vowel alternations is often still
present in Coptic. For example, the stressed syllable is closed in CON "brother" whereas
it is open in the morphologically related Ctutie "sister", so the presumed reason for the
apophony 0 - (!) is still apparent (Sethe 1899-1902: I, § 42). It must however be empha-
sized that counterexamples are easy to find in Coptic which show exactly the opposite
distribution (BS5 § 4.1). Thus Coptic does not prevent us from developing a contradicting
theory according to which low vowels arise in open, high vowels in closed syllables. This
is what I suggest here. Let us assume that the choice of high (traditionally: long) vs. low
(traditionally: short) vowels depends on whether the syllable is open or closed in Paleo-
Coptic, however in an opposite way than has been assumed by now:
Coptic vowels
traditional explanation
alternative explanation
CO, 1, H (high)
developed in open syllable
developed in closed syllable
0, &, e (low)
developed in closed syllable
developed in open syllable
This allows for a reconstruction according to which all words end in a vowel. Any
traditional Paleo-Coptic reconstruction can be unambiguously transformed into the
alternative one as follows:
traditional model
new model
~(CS>§ 4.8.2)
'CV
'CVC
'CVCV
'CV:CVC
'CVCCV
'CVCCVC
'CVCVCCV
18a