From case to adposition: The development of configurational syntax in Indo-European languages (review)

Early Indo-European (IE) languages are characterized by syntax with relatively free word order, nominal systems of up to seven cases, and a small number of adpositions (prepositions or postpositions) that could combine with either nouns or verbs. In such a system, grammatical relations were signaled by morphological means (i.e. agreement between nouns and their modifiers). The adpositions in many cases could either be construed as complements to the verb or as governing arguments of the verb. The goal of Hewson and Bubenik’s volume is to chronicle the development of such a system in Proto-Indo-European (PIE), which had free word order, into those of the descendent IE languages, which have much stricter word order that is used to signal grammatical relationships. Most modern IE languages have fewer distinct cases, having lost much of their inflectional morphology, and a proliferation of adpositions (chiefly prepositions). That is, they have become configurational.

All extant branches of IE are surveyed, with individual chapters on Ancient Greek (H), Hittite (B), Indo-Aryan (B), Iranian (B), Armenian (B), Slavic (B), Baltic (H&B), Celtic (H), Latin and Modern Romance (H), Germanic (H), Albanian (B), and Tocharian (B). Chapters on typological evolution in IE (H) and the syntax of the prepositional phrase (H) introduce the language descriptions, while another on cases, adverbial particles, and adpositions in PIE (B) closes the surveys. A concluding chapter (H&B) finishes the book.

Each chapter on the individual branches contains descriptions of the case systems, typically divided into core and adverbial sets. Nominative and accusative are full nominal; possessors and indirect objects are adjectival; all other cases are tertiary, or adverbial, and are the first to be lost. The systems of semantic oppositions of the prepositions are also sketched, along with the cases they control.

H&B’s main thesis is that PIE did not have noun phrases and prepositional phrases, although they typically occur in the later languages. No noun phrase should be reconstructed because the earliest IE languages have no articles (e.g. Homeric Greek, Hittite, Sanskrit, Classical Latin) and adjective modifiers formed no cohesive unit with the noun they modify (due to free word order). H also argues that the prepositional phrase did not exist in PIE because the syntax of adpositions was not yet established. Adpositions, which are later associated with nouns and control them, are only starting to appear in Homeric Greek, where they are optional. The same adpositions can also appear with the verb, and later become verbal prefixes. This type of univerbation, however, is not yet evident in Homeric Greek, Vedic Sanskrit, and Hittite.

Old Indic, Old Iranian (Avestan), and Old Persian maintain seven to eight noun cases but are a mixed bag as far as adpositions are concerned. Vedic maintains postpositions as does Old Persian, while Old Iranian (Avestan) and Modern Persian have prepositions. Pashto (East Iranian) continues to be conservative and has maintained an equal number of postpositions and prepositions.

The Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian, and Old Prussian), along with West and East Slavic, more or less preserve the seven cases of PIE. Prepositions are attached to nouns that are case-marked according to their meaning. South Slavic loses most morphology, with Bulgarian maintaining only one oblique case that appears with all prepositions.

Once the preposition has formed a unit with the noun it controls, noun case becomes redundant and most nominal morphology is lost. This is the situation in all Germanic languages, except German, and in all Romance languages, except Romanian. Hittite, interestingly, loses all but the four core cases of PIE, but maintains postpositions. It also shows a surprisingly early proliferation of adpositions, most formed by grammaticalizations of old oblique cases of nouns that have no cognates in the rest of IE.

Homeric Greek preserves the earliest stage where adverbial particles could modify either verbs or oblique nouns; by the...