p. 524ff.)]]
There is much debate whether pre-Proto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European , or whether it passed through a Proto-Balto-Slavic stage which split apart around 1000BC.
The original Homeland of the speakers of Proto-Slavic also remains controversial. The most ancient recognisably Slavic Hydronyms (river names) are to be found in northern and western Ukraine and southern Belarus (see map). It has also been noted that Proto-Slavic seemingly lacked a maritime vocabulary.
The Proto-Slavic language existed approximately to the middle of the first millennium AD. By the 7th century, it had broken apart into large dialectal zones. Linguistic differentiation received impetus from the dispersion of the Slavic peoples over a large territory - which in Central Europe exceeded the current extent of Slavic-speaking majorities. Written documents of the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries already have some local linguistic features. For example the Freising monuments show a language which contains some phonetic and lexical elements peculiar to Slovenian dialects (e.g. rhotacism, the word krilatec).
In the second half of the Ninth Century , the dialect spoken north of Thessaloniki became the basis for the first written Slavic language, created by the brothers Cyril And Methodius who translated portions of the Bible and other church books. The language they recorded is known as Old Church Slavonic . Old Church Slavonic is not identical to Proto-Slavic, having been recorded at least two centuries after the breakup of Proto-Slavic, and it shows features that clearly distinguish it from Proto-Slavic. However, it is still reasonably close, and the mutual intellegibility between Old Church Slavonic and other Slavic dialects of those days was proved by Cyril's and Methodius' mission to Great Moravia and Pannonia . There, their early South Slavic dialect used for the translations was clearly understandable to the local population which spoke an early West Slavic dialect.
Proto-Slavic is part of the Satem group of Indo-European languages (along with Indo-Iranian , Albanian , and Baltic ) wherein palatovelar consonants became affricate or fricative consonants pronounced closer to the front of the mouth. In Proto-Slavic, the former palatovelar stops became coronal fricatives:
- --- → ---s
- --- → ---z
- --- → ---z
- s to ---x (possibly with ---š as an intermediate stage) after a High Vowel .
- ě to ---a in certain contexts defines the Common Slavic period.
Changes that occurred when Proto-Slavic began to develop separately from other Satem languages include the merger of aspirated consonants with voiced ones and delabialization of Labiovelar s.
- --- → ---
- --- → ---
- --- → ---
- --- → --- → ---
- --- → ---
- ''ə'' when in a non-initial syllable, the development of PIE ---''eu'' into ---jau, the merger of long ---''ō'' and ---''ā'' into ---a and the merger of short ---''o'' and ---''a'' into ---o. Also, the distinction between long and short diphthongs was eliminated and PIE ---''ū'' and ---''u'' were delabialized to ---y and ---ŭ (or ---ъ) (these were likely and respectively). Sometime after this, the diphthong ---ow was monophthongized to ---u. By this point Proto-Slavic had the following vowel system:
- ei and ---oi as well as Liquid Diphthong s ---ŭl, ---ĭl, ---ŭr, ---ĭr; some scholars characterize the liquid diphthongs as syllabic sonorants: . A similar reduction occured of ''---ā'' into ''---ū'' (and finally ''y'') in some endings, especially in closed syllables.
- otĭĭ (from ---''otь'''k'''-os'') but vocative singular ---otĭ'''č'''e (from ---''otĭ'''k'''-e'') which made it seem that the progressive palatalization happened after this first regressive palatalization (see below). However, incorporating and strategically ordering other diachronic changes (such as the fronting of back vowels after palatal consonants) sufficiently explains most of the discrepancies while placing this "third" palatalization before the other two.
This palatalization goes as follows:
- k, ---g, ---x → ---, ---, ---) when following a front high vowel (either long or short) and preceding a mid back vowel (either long or short) across a morpheme boundary. An ---n or ---r between the velar and the high vowel does not prevent this palatalization. Also, the preceding front high vowel must itself follow a consonant.
- kuning → kŭnędzĭ ('king') and ---pfenning → ---pěnędzĭ ('penny') show the reflex of this palatalization. After the ninth century, this palatalization was likely no longer operating since Varangians (---varing-) were known as (''varęgŭ'') in Russian (without the palatalization of ---g to ---z) while the nominative plural () and locative singular show that either the second regressive palatalization was still operative or that an Analogy with other nouns ending in a velar consonant.
- ę and ---), etc. After these changes, a CV syllable structure (that is, one of segments ordered from lower to higher sonority) arose and the syllable became a basic structural unit of the language. Thus syllables (rather than just the consonant or the vowel) were distinguished as either "soft" or "hard;" most consonants having developed palatalized allophones in soft syllables (a situation dubbed "syllable synharmony" or the "syllabeme").
- i, ---ĭ, ---e, ---ę) and ---j.
- ---k → ---č
- ---g → ---ž (possibly via )
- ---x → ---š
- j). This was closely followed by the monophthongization of diphthongs in all environments.
- ---o → ---e / J_
- ---ŭ → ---ĭ / J_
- ---y → ---i / J_
- ---oi → ---ei / J_
- ---ei → ---i
- ---oi → ---ě
- ě were palatalized. As with the progressive palatalization, these became palatovelar. Soon after, palatovelar consonants from both the progressive palatalization and the second regressive palatalization became sibilants.
- → ---c ()
- → ---dz → ---z
- → ---s/---š
In noun declension, the second regressive palatalization originally figured in two important Slavic stem types: o-stems (masculine and neuter consonant-stems) and a-stems (feminine and masculine vowel-stems). This rule operated in the o-stem masculine paradigm in three places: before nominative plural and both singular and plural locative affixes.
- v.
- Russian : gwojzda → ---gwězda → zvězda → ('star')
- Polish : gwojzda → ---gwězda → gwiazda → ('star')
- š later on by Analogy . In all dialects (except for Lechitic), was deaffricated to :
The following table illustrates the differences between the different dialects as far as phonetic realization of the palatalizations.
- ě to ---a after palatal consonants and ---j, which then created ---ča/---ka contrasts.. Also, weak Yer s (---ь/ĭ and ---ъ/ŭ probably close to and respectively )were shortened and then elided (see Havlík's Law ) creating newly formed closed syllables. By which point, Common Slavic had the following consonants.
- bogŭ 'God', ---gatati 'to divine', ---divŭ 'demon', ---rajĭ 'paradise'. Yet non-religious terms such as ---(j)aščerŭ 'serpent', ---patriti 'to look after', ---radi 'for the purpose of', ---sobaka 'dog', ---toporŭ 'axe', ---xvala 'glory' and (at least according to some scholars) ---xata 'hut, house' are also of Iranian origin.
- bagno 'bog', ---jama 'cave', ---korsta 'canker', ---sěta 'grief', ---sluga 'servant' ---tragŭ 'foot(step)'.
It is generally acknowledged that of the various languages which left their mark on the early lexical stock, Germanic occupies a pivotal position, and many early Germanic loanwords into Proto-Slavic are known.
- xlěbŭ 'bread' (Eng. cognate "loaf"), ---xlěvŭ 'pigsty', ---měčĭ 'sword', ---stĭklo 'glass', ---šelmŭ 'helmet', ---xŭlmŭ 'hill', ---plugŭ 'plough', ---skotŭ 'cattle', possibly also ---melko 'milk', ---xyzŭ/---xyzja 'hut' (← PGmc. ---hūs). The words ---lěkŭ 'medicine' (Eng. "leech") and ---tynŭ 'fence' (Eng. cognate "town") were borrowed from Germanic (cf. Goth. lēkeis 'physician'; PGmc. ---tūnaz), but are believed to be originally of Celtic origin.
- istŭba 'room, apartment' (← OHG stuba), ---bjudo 'bowl, basin; table', ---bukŭ 'beech-tree', ---tjudjĭ 'foreign, stranger, somebody else's' (← Gothic ---þiuda 'people'), ---smoky 'fig', ---opica 'monkey' (← OHG affo).
Germanic also transmitted some Latin and Greek loans into Slavic:
- kaupōn from Lat. caupō 'merchant', ultimately from Etruscan ), ---dŭska 'board' (← Lat. discus through OHG tisk), ---kotĭlŭ 'kettle', ---cěsarjĭ 'king, imperator', ---krĭstŭ 'cross' (← Lat. Chrīstus through OHG Krist), ---čeršn'a 'cherry' ( Popular Lat. ceresia, Old Bavarian chersia), ---osĭlŭ 'ass, donkey' (Lat. asinus, Goth. asilus);
- Greek (with Gothic mediation): ---cĭrky 'church', 'camel' (← Gk. elephas 'elephant' through Goth. ulbandus);
Some Latin (including words from Balkan Romance ) and Greek words entered Late Proto-Slavic even without Germanic mediation:
- Latin: ---konopja (← Popular Lat. --- Canapis ), ---vino 'wine' (← Lat. vīnum), ---poganŭ 'pagan' (← pagānus), ---kоlęda 'carol' (← Lat. calendae);
- Greek: ---korabjĭ 'ship' ( Byzantine Gk. karábion), ---polata 'abode' ( Byzantine Gk. palátion 'palace', ---popŭ 'priest', 'Sabbath' ( Byzantine Gk. sámbaton).
- kobyla 'mare', 'horse's yoke', ---gatĭ 'dam', ---kŭnęga/---kŭniga 'book', ---kovŭčegŭ 'box', ---kolpakŭ/klobukŭ 'hat/cowl'.
- mogyla 'kurgan, tomb, grave' is considered etymologically uncertain but has been compared to Albanian magulë 'hill' and Romanian măgură 'hill, elevation'.
Loanwords in Proto-Slavic lexical stock are outlined in Schenker (1996): 159-160.
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