Augment (linguistics)
In linguistics, the augment is a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages, most notably Greek, Armenian and Indo-Iranian languages such as Sanskrit, to form the past tenses.
Contents
Indo-European languages[edit]
Historical linguists are uncertain whether the augment is a feature that was added to some branches of Indo-European or whether the augment was present in the parent language and lost by all other branches (see also Proto-Greek).
Greek[edit]
Ancient Greek[edit]
In Ancient Greek, the verb λέγω légo “I say” has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa “I said”. The initial ε e is the augment. When it comes before a consonant, it is called the "syllabic augment" because it adds a syllable. Sometimes the syllabic augment appears before a vowel because the initial consonant of the verbal root (usually digamma) was lost:[1]
- *έ-ϝιδον *é-widon → (loss of digamma) *ἔιδον *éidon → (synaeresis) εἶδον eîdon
When the augment is added before a vowel, the augment and the vowel are contracted and the vowel becomes long: akoúō "I hear", ḗkousa "I heard". It is sometimes called the "temporal augment" because it increases the time needed to pronounce the vowel.[2]
Homeric Greek[edit]
In Homer, past-tense (aorist or imperfect) verbs appeared both with and without an augment.
- ὣς φάτο — ὣς ἔφατο
hṑs pháto — hṑs éphato
"so he/she said" - ἦμος δ᾿ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,
êmos d' ērigéneia phánē rhododáktulos Ēṓs,
"And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"
Modern Greek[edit]
Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables. However, accented syllabic augments remained in place.[3] So Ancient ἔλυσα, ἐλύσαμεν "I loosened, we loosened" corresponds to Modern έλυσα, λύσαμε (élisa, lísame).[4] Temporal augment has not survived in the vernacular, which leaves the initial vowel unaltered: Ancient ἀγαπῶ, ἠγάπησα "I love, I loved"; Modern αγαπώ, αγάπησα (agapó, agápisa).
Sanskrit[edit]
Sanskrit had the augment अ- / a-, prefixed to past-tense verbs (aorist and imperfect). [5]
| stem | present | aorist | imperfect | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ध / dhã | दधति / dadhãti | अधत् / adhãt | अदधत् / adadhãt | put |
| गम् / gam | गच्छति / gacchati | अगमत् / agamat | अगच्छत् / agacchat | go |
Other[edit]
- Phrygian seems to have had an augment.
- Classical Armenian had an augment,[6] in the form of e-.
- Yaghnobi, an East Iranian language spoken in Tajikistan, has an augment.
Non-Indo-European languages[edit]
The term has also been extended to describe similar features in non-Indo-European languages.
In Nahuatl, the perfect ō- prefix is called an augment.
In certain Bantu languages such as Zulu, the term "augment" refers to the initial vowel of a noun class prefix such as (in Zulu) umu-, ama-. That vowel may be present or absent, according to grammatical rules.
Constructed languages[edit]
In High Elvish, the repetition of the first vowel before the perfect (for instance utúlië, perfect tense of túlë, "come") is also called an augment.
References[edit]
- ^ Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. par. 429: syllabic augment.
- ^ Smyth. par. 435: temporal augment.
- ^ Browning, Robert (1983). Medieval and Modern Greek (p58).
- ^ Sophroniou, S.A. Modern Greek. Teach Yourself Books, 1962, Sevenoaks, p79.
- ^ Coulson, Michael. Teach yourself Sanskrit. p. 244. Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, Sevenoaks.
- ^ Clackson, James. 1994. The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek. London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing)