[[PIE phonology MOC#Rules]]
# PIE syllabification of sonorants

Syllabification rules appear to have been applied in the following order:

1. [[#Base rule]]
2. [[Siever's law]]
3. [[Lindeman's option]]

## Base rule
The base rule for syllabification of a sequence of sonorants was as follows:

> **Basic syllabification in PIE** :: If the phoneme to the right of a sonorant is syllabic, the sonorant remains non-syllabic, else it is syllabic.^[2017. [[Sources/@ringeProtoIndoEuropeanProtoGermanic2017|From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic]], p. 17] <!--SR:!2024-04-07,196,270-->

The rule iterated from right to left.

- e.g. zero grade <em class="recon">kwn-</em> ‘dog’ 
  forms the genetive <em class="recon">kwn-és</em> → ==<em class="recon">kunés</em>==
  but the locative plural <em class="recon">kwn-sú</em> → ==<em class="recon">kwṇsú</em>==.
<!--SR:!2024-07-02,336,250!2024-06-24,330,250-->

### Exceptions
Notable systematic exceptions to this rule include

- The nasal infix <em class="recon">-né-</em> never seems to exhibit syllabic <em class="recon">ṇ</em> in zero-grade.
  - e.g. Core IE present stem <em class="recon">linékʷ-</em> ‘be leaving behind has a zero grade ==<em class="recon">linkʷ-</em>==
- The <em class="recon">i</em>-stem and <em class="recon">u</em>-stem accusative endings always exhibit 
  sg. <em class="recon">-im</em>, <em class="recon">-um</em> rsp. 
  and pl. <em class="recon">-ins</em>, <em class="recon">-uns</em> rsp.
- <em class="recon">CRṚV</em> may occur if <em class="recon">CRṚC</em> occurs elsewhere in the paradigm.[^note]
- Word initial labial sonorant clusters <em class="recon">mR-</em> were ==always realised with both sonorants non-syllabic==.
<!--SR:!2024-02-07,144,230!2023-11-18,51,210-->


[^note]: The example given by Ringe in [[@ringeProtoIndoEuropeanProtoGermanic2017|From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic]] p. 18 could to my knowledge just as easily be explained by an underlying non-sonorant <em class="recon">i</em> rather than <em class="recon">ỵ</em>, if we posit that the former exists.


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