[The oldest is ∗yēk- (ἔŋκα, iēcē), after which ∗dhēk- (ἔΰŋκα, αδδακ∈τ, fēcī) was patterned in pro-ethnic times, ἔδωκα was added to the group only in Greek. The peculiar grouping of forms with and without -κ- in the Greek paradigms starts from the fact that forms from three bases, ∗sē-, ∗yēk-, ∗wī- (ΐŋμι, ἔŋκα, fi∈μαι, for instance), merged in one paradigm as a result of changes that are in part analogic, in part phonetic]

The purpose of this paper is to bring to the attention of interested persons the existence and availability of a high-speed computer program designed to aid in the determination of lexicostatistical indices, of the type developed by Swadesh, for assessing the degree to which any two given languages are cognate. The program was written by Carroll for the IBM Electronic Data Processing Machine Type 704 (with a 32,768-word magnetic-core storage) at the suggestion of Dyen, who wished to compute lexicostatistical indices among several hundred Malayopolynesian languages. The need for a high-speed computer program is suggested by the fact that the number of possible different pairwise comparisons among n languages increases geometrically with the number of languages; specifically, it is n(n - l)/2. If the comparisons are based on, let us say, the words in each language corresponding to the 200 ‘meanings’ of Swadesh's standard list, the analysis of the data for 100 languages involves a total of nearly a million separate acts of comparison. The program which is now available enables the performance of this job in approximately one hour and a quarter—provided, of course, that the data have all been properly assembled and coded for input to the machine. The individual acts of comparison (that is, the comparison of the forms for a given meaning in two languages) are performed at the rate of about 300 per second for typical kinds of data.

Traditionally, the Old Church Slavonic verb is considered to be capable of forming three types of aorist. The so-called root aorist is presumably formed by adding personal endings directly to the stem (Diels §114.1), as in the forms of the verb ‘to fall with the basic stem in pad- : 1st sg. 2d and 3d sg. pade, 1st du. padově, 2d du. padeta, 3d du. padete, 1st pl. 2d pl. padete, 3d pl. The so-called s-aorist (Diels §114.2) is presumably formed by adding the element s (which under certain conditions alternates with x) directly to the stem, as in the respective forms of ved- ‘lead’ and rek- ‘speak’: , vede, věsově, věsta, věste, , věste, , and , reče, rěxově, rěsta, rěste, , rěste, . The so-called x-aorist (Diels §114.3) is formed by adding the element ox, as in the x-aorist forms of ved- : , vede, vedoxově, vedosta, vedoste, , vedoste, and . In addition to automatic changes (such as x to š before a front vowel), it must be noted that the second and third persons singular are always formed on the root-aorist pattern; and that the third person plural ends in in the root aorist but in in the s- and x-aorists, as in the forms (root aor.), (s-aor.), and (x-aor.). The distribution of the various types of aorist among stem classes is the following: class 1.1 (cf. Diels §105–6) has all three types in stems that end in an obstruent, as in the forms and stems of class 1.1 that end in a sonorant take s-aorist only; stems of class 2.1 take either the root aorist or the s-aorist; stems of class 2.2 and 3–6 take the s-aorist; and stems of class 7 (irregular) require individual disposition.

This paper begins with a question. It gives empirical data in order to show that the question appears answerable in principle. It discusses some problems that require an elaboration of the preliminary solution. Finally, it summarizes a few of the implications of the study.

[An argument to show that πoι is in ablaut relation to and its cognates.]

This paper investigates several Avestan words alleged to continue the reflex of Indo-European *ə as i (ī) between consonants in non-initial syllables. A critical analysis of the forms shows that such an interpretation is unjustified.

A generation or two ago the writers of handbooks of Indo-European comparative grammar were for the most part considerably more definite in their conclusions regarding the form of the parent speech than their successors are today. This is particularly true with regard to the verbal system. In those days the repertoire of verb categories was based largely on the agreements between Greek and Sanskrit, some of which were indeed striking, and the deviations of the other Indo-European languages were explained as developing out of that skeletal system, or as innovations, or were left without explanation.