Wiktionary:About Proto-Indo-Iranian

	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.

Shortcut:
WT:AIIR

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 schemeEdit

ConsonantsEdit

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.

LaryngealEdit

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.

VowelsEdit

Short – a, i, u
Long – ā, ī, ū
Diphthongs – ay, āy, aw, āw

Pitch accentEdit

Marked by an acute accent. All vowels, *r̥, and *H between consonants can take the accent.

DescendantsEdit

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.