Relative Clauses in Proto-Indo-European - A Study in Syntactic Reconstruction

Although the unattested language of Proto-Indo-European has been studied for over 200 years, the greater part of this literature has focused on its phonology and morphology, with comparatively little known of its syntax. This book aims to redress the balance by reconstructing the syntax of relative clauses. It examines evidence from a wide range of archaic Indo-European languages, analysing them through the lens of generative linguistic theory. It also explains the methodological challenges of syntactic reconstruction and how they may be tackled. Ram-Prasad also alights on a wide range of points of comparative interest, including pronominal morphology, discourse movement and Wackernagel's Law. This book will appeal to classicists interested in understanding the Latin and Greek languages in their Indo-European context, as well as to trained comparative philologists and historical linguists with particular interests in syntax and reconstruction.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Syntactic reconstruction and proto-Indo-European; 3. Relative clauses in minimalism and Indo-European; 4. The relative pronoun(s) of Proto-Indo-European; 5. Clitics and the left periphery in Proto-Indo-European; 6. Relative clauses in Proto-Indo-European; 7. Conclusions; References; Index.

About the author

Krishnan J. Ram-Prasad teaches Classics at Radley College. He was previously a Junior Research Fellow in Classics and Linguistics at Merton College, Oxford. His Ph.D. thesis on relative clauses in Proto-Indo-European won the Hare Prize for best doctoral dissertation in Classics at the University of Cambridge.

Product details

• Authors: Krishnan J Ram-Prasad, Krishnan J. Ram-Prasad
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 30.04.2026
• EAN: 9781009664172
• ISBN: 978-1-009-66417-2
• Illustrations: 210 b/w illus., Zeichnungen, schwarz-weiss, Worked examples or Exercises
• Series: Cambridge Classical Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Classical linguistics / literary studies; Linguistics, Historical & comparative linguistics, Educational: Classical and ancient languages, Philology, Indo-European languages, Educational: Languages other than English, Historical and comparative linguistics, LANGUAGE STUDY / Ancient Languages