Wiktionary:About Proto-Indo-Iranian
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This is a Wiktionary policy, guideline or common practices page. This is a draft proposal. It is unofficial, and it is unknown whether it is widely accepted by Wiktionary editors. |
| Policies – Entries: CFI - EL - NORM - NPOV - QUOTE - REDIR - DELETE. Languages: LT - AXX. Others: BLOCK - BOTS - VOTES. |
These are some guidelines for Proto-Indo-Iranian, the ancestor of all Indo-Aryan, Iranian, and Nuristani languages. See also: 
Proto-Indo-Iranian language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Transcription scheme
[edit]Consonants
[edit]- Labials – p, b, bʰ, m
- Dental/Alveolar – t, d, dʰ, s (allophone: z), n, l
- Post-alveolar – š (allophone: ž), r, r̥
- Palatals
- First – ć, ȷ́, ȷ́ʰ (> Sanskrit: ś, j, h, Avestan: s, z, z)
- Second – č, ǰ, ǰʰ (> Sanskrit: c, j, h, Avestan: č, ǰ, ǰ)
- Velar – k, g, gʰ
- Laryngeal – H (< all PIE laryngeals)
- Semivowels – y, w
In some transcription schemes, *y and *w are transcribed as *i̯ and *u̯. The first set of palatals is sometimes written with circumflex accents. Such entries should be moved to the correct spelling. Redirects can remain. The status of *l as a phoneme separate from *r is still being debated.
Laryngeal
[edit]If a laryngeal is reconstructed in the PIE form, then *H should also be in the PII form (e.g. *Hnā́ma, not **nā́ma). Otherwise, long vowels can be used.
The laryngeal from PIE can be vocalized sometimes, resulting in *i or zero. Read Wikipedia for a full description.
Vowels
[edit]- Short – a, i, u
- Long – ā, ī, ū
- Diphthongs – ay, āy, aw, āw
Pitch accent
[edit]Marked by an acute accent. All vowels, *r̥, and *H between consonants can take the accent.
Descendants
[edit]Always include a derived terms or descendants section. There are plenty of resources available that document cognates between Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages (especially Sanskrit and Avestan), so this shouldn't be difficult for a valid reconstruction. The primary exception is Nuristani, which is still poorly described, but recent work has been done to better identify Nuristani reflexes of Proto-Indo-Iranian words.