Glottalic theory facts for kids

The glottalic theory is an idea about how an ancient language called Proto-Indo-European might have sounded. It suggests that some sounds in this old language were made differently than what people first thought.

What is the Glottalic Theory?

The glottalic theory is a way of understanding the sounds of Proto-Indo-European, which is a very old language that many modern languages come from. This theory says that Proto-Indo-European had special sounds called ejective stops. These are sounds like p’, t’, and k’, where a burst of air is pushed out from the throat.

This is different from the traditional idea, which said the language had voiced stops. Voiced stops are sounds like b, d, and g, where your vocal cords vibrate when you make the sound. So, the glottalic theory suggests a change from b, d, g to p’, t’, k’ in how we imagine this ancient language sounded.

Who Developed This Idea?

The glottalic theory was developed by several smart people. In the United States, a linguist named Paul Hopper worked on this idea. At the same time, in the Soviet Union, Thomas V. Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav V. Ivanov also came up with similar thoughts.

Before them, a Danish linguist named Holger Pedersen had an early version of this theory. However, his idea didn't include the "glottalized" sounds (ejective stops). Later, other linguists like André Martinet and Morris Swadesh also saw that it might be possible to replace the traditional voiced stops with glottalized sounds.

This idea remained a guess until more proof was published in 1973. Paul Hopper shared his findings in a journal called Glossa. Around the same time, Gamkrelidze and Ivanov published their evidence in a journal called Phonetica. Their work helped the glottalic theory become a more widely discussed idea in the study of ancient languages.