Indo-European linguistics
Using quantitative methods for phonetic reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European and its daughter languages
Combining synchronic and diachronic approaches provides new insights not only for phonological theory and typology, but also for methodology in linguistic reconstruction. Our main research goal within Indo-European historical phonology is to explore applications of phonetic and statistical methodologies to phonological reconstruction. In the paper on Vedic meter, we argue for a new rule that repairs several irregular lines in the Rigveda and can be used as a diagnostic for the reconstruction of etymologically unclear cases. Statistical methods are employed to strengthen philological and comparative methodologies.
The project on the Vedic pitch accent system, we combine philological and comparative sources with acoustic analyses of present-day Vedic recitation to provide a more accurate reconstruction of the Vedic accent, one of the oldest known accent marking systems.
In Slavic, we propose an explanation for the phonetic development of the pitch accent in two dialects of Kajkavian and Slovenian (published in Zeitschrift für Slawistik and Slovene Linguistic Studies).
