Sussex R., Cubberley P. The Slavic Languages
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‘end’ konec koniec
‘lower’ nı
´
zˇe nizˇe
‘house’ du
˚
m dom
Long unstressed vowels in Czech and Slovak are approximately as long as short
stressed vowels; long stressed vowels are about twice as long. Only Czech and
Slovak regularly mark length in their orthography, B/C/S and Slovenian mark it
(as with tone) only in lexicographical and pedagogical works.
3.5.3 Tone
Both Indo-European and Proto-Slavic had phonemic tone, but it survives in
modern Slavic only in B/C/S and Slovenian. The historical development of tone
(see 3.2.4.3) is closely linked to stress. In Late Proto-Slavic tone was found on only
one syllable per word. The tonic syllable had the same phonetic properties as
stressed syllables in the modern languages.
Standard Slovenian is presented in two variants: the stress (non-tonal) type and
the tonal type. The tonal type was formalized and sanctioned by the Academy in
Ljubljana, although it is not a compulsory part of the school curriculum. The two
variants are parallel for the location of the prominent syllable, and for length.
There is some controversy about whether Slovenian has pitch at all, especially since
the pitches are perceptually less evident than in B/C/S. The pitch variant contains a
long rising (
´
), short falling (
`
) and long falling (
k
) pitch. Short falling pitch is found
mainly on final syllables and monosyllables:
(168) Sln pe
`
s [p
e
s] ‘dog’ (PSl p{ s y) prece
`
j ‘rather’ [-ej]
In the non-tonal variant this pitch is simply short, and is marked in dictionaries by
the grave (a double grave in Pleters
ˇ
nik’s version).
Pitch is therefore contrastive only between the two long pitches, which can occur
in any position in the word. In the non-tonal variant, /a i u r/ are simply long and are
marked by the acute; long open /e/ and /o/ and close /e
´
/ and /o
´
/, the latter marked in
the Pleters
ˇ
nik version by a subscript dot, are marked by the (round) circumflex and
acute respectively. In the discussion of pitch we disregard the quality of /e/ and /o/.
In standard B/C/S, following the model of Vuk Karadzˇ ic
´
, there are two pitches,
and vowels may also be either long or short. The combined features are marked:
long rising (
´
), short rising (
`
), long falling (
k
) and short falling ( `` ). The falling
tones can occur only on initial syllables or in monosyllables (representing the
original stress position):
(169) B/C/S za`` mak (short falling) cf. Rus za
´
mok ‘castle’
3.5 Suprasegmentals 189
No final syllable (of a polysyllabic word) can be stressed:
(170) B/C/S sto
`
la [GenSg] (short rising) cf. Rus stola
´
‘table’
Rising tones reflect a leftwards movement of the stress by one syllable, when
compared to Proto-Slavic or the other free-stress languages (see 3.2.4.3). The
underlying length of the new stressed vowel was retained:
(171a) B/C/S povre
´
diti ‘to harm’ [Prfv] cf. Rus povredı
´
t
0
(171b) B/C/S u
`
c
ˇ
itelj ‘teacher’ cf. Blg uc
ˇ
ı
´
tel Sln uc
ˇ
ı
´
telj Rus uc
ˇ
ı
´
tel
0
The major dialects (S
ˇ
tokavian) are all consistent with this pattern, provided that we
remember that the Jekavian variant will show the falling pitch on the first of its two
syllables, and the rising on the second:
(172a) ‘hay’: PSl se
&
no (falling) Rus se
´
no Sln seno
&
B/C/S se
&
no, sı%jeno
(172b) ‘river’: PSl reka
´
(rising) Rus reka
´
Sln re
´
ka B/C/S re
´
ka, rije
`
ka
Non-standard dialects, however, vary widely in their tonal properties. The kaj-
variant (Kajkavian) is a compromise with Slovenian, and the c
ˇa-
variant
(C
ˇ
akavian) is much closer to Proto-Slavic (10.2.2).
Some studies have cast doubt on the maintenance of the full four-tone system in
modern standard B/C/S. Magner and Matejka (1971) claimed that while tones were
passively understood, and were part of the literary standard, the speech of educated
(and some less educated) people of the central Serbian-Croatian region showed that
it was stress, not tone, which was the crucial functional category of Serbo-Croatian
phonology. Nonetheless, the Karadzˇ ic
´
model continues to be taught, and is widely
received as the official standard, at least of Serbian.
When we compare the tones of Slovenian and B/C/S, we find some important
differences. The location of the stressed syllable in Slovenian agrees moderately well
with that in the free- and mobile-stress Slavic languages, especially in the fact that
any syllable in the word may be stressed. In B/C/S, however, final syllables cannot
be stressed, except in monosyllables within a phrase. Where possible the stress has
moved leftwards by one syllable. The same leftwards shift occurred also in
Slovenian, but only from short final syllables. It is counterbalanced in Slovenian
by a rightwards shift from a falling pitch, which could land on the final syllable. The
retracted stress always gave a rising pitch in B/C/S, as it did also in Slovenian except
when landing on /
e
/. In contrast, the rightwards shift in Slovenian gave a long falling
pitch. Stressed syllables also differ in length: they are usually long in Slovenian, but
in B/C/S may be either long or short. Examples of differences thus produced are:
190 3. Phonology
(173) PSl B/C/S Sln (tonal) (non-tonal)
‘ninth’ deve
k
tyj{ de
`
vet
i deve
k
ti deve
&
ti
‘hay’ se
k
no se
k
no seno
k
.
seno
´
‘village’ se¨lo se
`
lo se
k
lo se
k
lo
‘measure’ me
´
ra me`` ra me
´
.
ra me
´
ra
‘brother’ bra
´
try bra`` t bra
`
t bra
`
t
Pitch, like length, is phonetically relative. Just as stressed short syllables may be
longer than unstressed long syllables (3.5.2), so a high pitch may be phonetically
lower than a low pitch within the intonation contour of the sentence or phrase.
3.5 Suprasegmentals 191
4
Morphophonology
4.1 Overview
Morphophonology (North American ‘‘morphonology’’) is richly exemplified in
Slavic, for example:
(1a)
PREFIX ALTERNATION IN PREFIX þ ROOT
B/C/S bez- ‘without’ þ pra
´
vo ‘right’ (þ -n- [Adj] )
= be
`
spr
avan ‘without rights’
(i.e. regressive assimilation of voicing of /z/ to /s/, caused by the
following voiceless /p/; this is standard in Slavic, though often not
reflected in orthography)
(1b) ROOT ALTERNATION IN PREFIX þ ROOT
Rus pred- ‘pre-’ þ isto
´
rija ‘history’ = predysto
´
rija ‘prehistory’
(i.e. i becomes y after the hard d of pred-)
(1c) ROOT ALTERNATION IN ROOT þ SUFFIX
Rus knig- ‘book’ [Noun] þ -n-yj [Adj] > knı
´
zˇnyj ‘bookish’
(i.e. regressive mutation of /g/ to /zˇ / = First Palatalization of Velars)
(1d) ROOT ALTERNATION IN ROOT + INFLEXION
Pol matka ‘mother’ + Dat Sg -e > matce
(i.e. k > c by the Second Palatalization of Velars)
The standard approach in Slavic linguistics is to view alternations as processes. One
form is changed to another form by means of a rule: mutation is such a rule, which –
for instance – changes /g/ to /zˇ / in (1c). Alternations occur in prefixes, roots and
suffixes, in specific combinations of these three elements.
Such alternations show many processes identical with automatic phonological
change, like palatalization and assimilation. But some morphophonological alter-
nations, like many vowel alternations, do not have an obvious phonological
192
rationale. English has a common Indo-European vowel alternation in examples
like swim, swam, swum. In Slavic we find similar examples:
(2a) Slk niest’ ‘to carry’ [Determinate] nesiem ‘I carry’
nosit’ ‘to carry’ [Indeterminate]
(2b) Slk chlieb ‘bread’ [NomSg] chleba [GenSg]
(2c) Rus brat
0
‘to take’ beru
´
‘I take’
-bira
´
t
0
verbs, with prefixes podbira
´
t
0
‘to select’
-bor nouns, with prefixes podbo
´
r ‘selection’
Alternations within inflexions or across morpheme boundaries can present pat-
terns of a different order:
(3) Bel [NomSg] [LocSg] [NomPl]
‘young man’ juna
´
k [-k] junaku
´
[-ku] junakı
´
[-k
j
i]
‘(river) bank’ be
´
rah [-x] be
´
raze [-z
j
f] berahı
´
[-˜
j
i]
The nominative plural forms are phonologically transparent, and follow
the phonological rules for i/y after velars. But in the locative singular forms the
/h z/ alternation in berah is historically the /g z/ alternation of the Second
Palatalization of Velars (PV2; 1.3.1.5), with the regular modern spirantized
Belarusian reflex of Proto-Slavic */g/. This, as well as the selection of the endings -e
in be
´
raze and -u in junaku
´
, are governed by morphological factors.
Morphophonological alternations can be classified in two main ways: by
the surface phonological properties of the alternations themselves; and by the
morphological factors in which the alternations occur. We present a descriptive
summary of the vowel (4.2) and consonant (4.3) alternations and their condi-
tioning morphological environments (4.4–4.5) before relating these alternations
to underlying forms and derivational rules (4.6). Some of these alternations
date from before the period of Proto-Slavic, and are found in all the Slavic
languages. Others are more recent, and their application (or not) forms part of
the morphophonological typology of the individual languages.
4.2 Vowel alternations
Vowel alternations (‘‘ablaut’’) follow the Indo-European pattern: change of vowel
quality, vowel loss, cluster simplification (via vowel insertion) and alternation of
length and pitch. Czech also has a later umlaut (Cz pr
ˇ
ehla
´
ska, or alternation of
quality, 4.2.6).
4.2 Vowel alternations 193
4.2.1 Vowel zero alternations
Vowel zero alternations arise in most cases from the preservation or deletion
of the jers, the original Proto-Slavic short vowels y and {, especially in original
final and penultimate syllables (3.2.1.1). These deletions destroyed the Proto-
Slavic pattern of open syllables, and created new consonant clusters as well
as classes of words ending in consonants. They also created the conditions for
alternation in words with jers in the final two syllables. (For further examples,
see 3.2.1.1.)
In nouns the main context of realized vowels in vowel zero alternations is
before zero inflexions (a, b, d, f):
a. masculine singular nominative, e.g.:
(4) ‘dog’ (PSl p{sy [NomSg] p{sa [GenSg] ):
Rus pe
¨
s psa Cz pes psa Pol pies psa B/C/S pa`` s psa``
b. the genitive plural of some feminine and neuter nouns:
(5a) ‘light’ (PSl sve
ˇt
{lo [NomSg] sve
ˇt
{ly [GenPl] ):
Slk svetlo svetiel Cz sve
ˇ
tlo sve
ˇ
tel Pol s
´
wiatło s
´
wiateł
(5b) ‘sentry-box’ (PSl budyka [NomSg] bud
y
ky [GenPl] ):
Rus, Ukr bu
´
dka bu
´
dok Bel bu
´
dka bu
´
dak
c. the instrumental singular of III-declension nouns, which have vowel
inflexions in the nominative-accusative singular vs most of the other
forms, as in (a), but in the instrumental singular the inflexion also
contained a (weak) jer, and so also gives a vowel alternant (optionally
regularized in Belarusian):
(6) ‘love’ (PSl ljuby [NomSg] ljubyv{ [AccSg] ljubyvi [GenSg]
ljubyv{jo˛ [InstrSg] ):
Rus ljubo
´
v
0
[Nom-AccSg] ljubvı
´
ljubo
´
v
0
ju
Bel ljubo
´
u
˘
[Nom-AccSg] ljubvı
´
/ljubo
´
vi ljubo
´
˘
uju
d. In adjectives the zero ending occurs in the short form (nominative)
masculine singular:
(7) ‘narrow’ (PSl o˛ zyky [NomSgMasc] o˛ zyka [NomSgFem] ):
Rus u
´
zok uzka
´
B/C/S u``zak u`` ska Sln o
´
zek o
´
zka
e. Consonant-final prepositions and prefixes may also insert a fleeting
vowel (usually originally a weak jer) before a following consonant
194 4. Morphophonology
cluster where the new enlarged cluster would otherwise violate pho-
notactic rules (see 3.4.3). There is some variation between languages:
(8) Cz skoc
ˇ
it [Imprfv] (seskoc
ˇ
it [Prfv] ) s mostu ‘to jump off the bridge’
sklidit [Prfv] (klidit [Imprfv] ) se stolu ‘to clear the table’
Rus v sre
´
du ‘on Wednesday’ vo vto
´
rnik ‘on Tuesday’
f. In verb systems vowel zero alternations occur in asyllabic verb roots
(i.e. roots not containing a surface vowel) when a consonantal inflex-
ion (e.g. infinitive) follows: Rus tere
´
t
0
‘to rub’, tr-u ‘I rub’ (these are not
originally ‘‘asyllabic’’, but jers – e.g. t{r- – and they usually belong in
the ‘‘pre-Slavic’’ vowel alternation group like br-/ber-/bor- in (2c) )
Some inserted vowels do not derive from jers, but are ‘‘fill vowels’’ (see 3.2.1.1),
whose role is to simplify (especially final) consonant clusters:
a. early insertions, at the time of the loss of the jers:
(9) ‘fire’ (PSl ogn{ [NomSg] ognja [GenSg] ):
Rus ogo
´
n
0
ognja
´
Pol ogien
´
ognia
b. in clusters not contrary to the Proto-Slavic rule of rising sonority, later
insertions by the more vocalic languages (3.2.3.1: those less tolerant of
consonant clusters, especially finally), notably B/C/S:
(10a) ‘good’ (PSl dobry [MascNomSg] dobra [FemNomSg] ):
B/C/S do`` bar do
`
bra
Blg doba˘
´
r dobra
´
cf. Rus dobr dobra
´
(10b) ‘theatre’:
B/C/S te
`
atar [NomSg] te
`
atru [LocSg]
cf. Rus tea
´
tr tea
´
tra
Neither of these types of inserted vowels is determined by purely phonological
factors. Some of the consonant clusters which they interrupt are indeed possible,
but are not permitted in precisely the morphological environments where these
alternations occur in parallel to those from jers. Russian, for instance, allows final
/-ml
0
/inKreml
0
‘Kremlin’ [NomSg] but not in zeme
´
l
0
‘earth’ [GenPl] (not *zeml
0
)
(PSl *zem(l)j{); and Polish allows /-sł/innio
´
sł ‘he carried’, but not in wiosło ‘oar’
[NomSg], wioseł [GenPl] (not *wio
´
sł ).
A common context illustrating this uncertainty is the former l-participle (like Pol
nio
´
sł), which is now either the full past tense (East Slavic) or the form of the main
4.2 Vowel alternations 195
verb used in compound forms (West and South Slavic). Historically, this is an
adjectival (short) form (5.5.2.1) in which the l-suffix is added directly to the
infinitive stem, without any jer. The range of development includes deletion, that
is, a consonant (/l/) zero alternation:
(11) ‘be able’ (PSl mog- : mogly [Masc] mogla [Fem] ):
a. vowel zero Slk mohol mohla
b. consonant zero Rus mog (*mogl) mogla
´
c. vowel zero AND vowel consonant B/C/S mo%gao mo
`
gla
d. vowel (syllabic consonant) consonant Cz mohl (syllabic /l
˚
/) mohla
e. no alternation Pol mo
´
gł mogła
(consonantal /w/: phonetically in colloquial speech > type (b):
mo
´
gł > [muk] )
The alternation e ø (12a), and the less extensive i ø (12f), may be accompanied
by palatalization of the preceding consonant(s), depending on the capacity of /e/
and /i/ to cause prepalatalization in individual languages (3.4.1). There may also be
simplification of consonant clusters in those forms where the fill vowel does not
appear:
(12a) e ø
Rus ‘earth’ zeme
´
l
0
[GenPl] zemlja
´
[NomSg]
‘cold’ xo
´
loden [Short] xolo
´
dnyj [Long,
MascNomSg]
‘lad’ pa
´
ren
0
[NomSg] pa
´
rnja [GenSg]
Pol ‘dog’ pies [NomSg] psa [GenSg]
‘tear’ łez [GenPl] łza [NomSg]
‘without me’ beze mnie ‘without us’ bez nas
‘mother’ mat ek [GenPl] matka [NomSg]
Slk ‘soap’ mydiel [GenPl] mydlo [NomSg]
(12b) o ø
Rus ‘bonfire’ koste¨ r NomAccSg] kostra
´
[GenSg]
‘window’ o
´
kon [GenPl] okno
´
[NomSg]
Pol ‘donkey’ osioł [NomAccSg] osła [GenSg]
Sorb ‘dog’ pos [NomSg] psa [GenSg]
‘to take’ wozmu ‘I take’ wzac
´
[Inf]
Slk ‘cap’ c
ˇiap
ok [GenPl] c
ˇiapka
[NomSg]
(12c) a ø
B/C/S ‘flexible’ g
i``
bak [MascNomSg] g
i``
pka [FemNomSg]
‘notebook’ sve``z
ak
a [GenPl] sve`` ska [NomSg]
196 4. Morphophonology
Mac ‘good’ dobar [MascNomSg] dobra [FemNomSg]
‘theatre’ teatar [Sg] teatri [Pl]
(12d) a
˘
ø
Blg ‘theatre’ tea
´
ta
˘
r [Sg] tea
´
tri [Pl]
‘dead’ ma˘
´
rta
˘
v [MascSg] ma
˘
´
rtvi [Pl]
(12e) oˆ ø
Slk ‘bowl’ miso
ˆ
k [GenPl] miska [NomSg]
(12f) i ø
Rus ‘third’ tre
´
tij [MascNomSg] tre
´
t
0
ja [FemNomSg]
( = /tret
0
-j-ø/)
‘ravine’ us
ˇ
c
ˇ
e
´
lij [GenPl] us
ˇ
c
ˇ
e
´
l
0
e [NomSg]
(=/l
0
j-e/)
Vowel zero alternations can form part of a series of alternations involving a
number of vowels, especially in derivations from asyllabic (mainly former weak jer)
verb roots, as in the ø e i series in Czech: brat ‘to take [Imprfv]’, beru ‘I take’,
vybirat ‘to choose [Imprfv]’.
4.2.2 Vowel lengthening
The languages with contrastive length in modern Slavic are Czech, Slovak, B/C/S
and Slovenian (3.5.2). In Czech and Slovak alternations involving length are often
associated with changes in vowel quality, including the effects of pr
ˇ
ehla
´
ska
(umlaut) in Czech (4.2.6) and diphthongization in Slovak.
Vowel lengthening occurs in somewhat different morphological environments
from vowel zero alternations. Apart from the typical zero non-zero ending
condition, we also find some vowel lengthening in word formation, and a
more extensive use in verb inflexion and aspect derivation. In Slovak some alter-
nations are caused by the Slovak Rhythmic Law (3.5.2), a phonological rather than
morphophonological process (Slovak diphthongs count as long vowels):
(13a)
a a (all four languages)
Cz ‘frost’ mra
´
z [NomAccSg] mrazu [GenSg]
‘contented’ spokojena
´
[FemNomSg] spokojena ‘satisfied’ [Pred]
Slk ‘rain’ da
´
zˇd’ [NomAccSg] dazˇd’a [GenSg]
‘voice’ hla
´
sok [Dim] hlas [NomAccSg]
‘to seat’ sa
´
dzat’ [Imprfv] sadzac
ˇ
‘typesetter’
B/C/S ‘town’ gra
&
d [Sg] gra``dovi [Pl]
4.2 Vowel alternations 197
(13b)
e e (Cz, B/C/S, Sln); ie e (Slk)
Cz ‘bread’ chle
´
b [NomAccSg] chleba [GenSg]
B/C/S ‘honey’ me
&
d [NomAccSg] me``da [GenSg]
Sln ‘bread’ hle
´
ba [GenSg] hle
`
b [NomAccSg]
Slk ‘bread’ chlieb [NomAccSg] chleba [GenSg]
(13c)
i e (Cz)
Cz ‘belief’ vı
´
ra [NomSg] ve
ˇ
r
ˇ
it ‘to believe’ [vjf
]
(13d)
u o (Cz)
Cz ‘house’ d
˚
um [NomAccSg] domu [GenSg]
‘my’ m
˚
uj [MascNomSg] moja [FemNomSg]
(13e)
y y (Cz, Slk)
Slk ‘to breathe’ dy
´
chat’ [Imprfv] dych ‘breath’
Cz ‘to be’ by
´
tbyl ‘he was’
(13f)
a a o (all four languages)
Slk ‘to go out’ vycha
´
dzat’ [Imprfv] vycho dit’ [Prfv]
B/C/S ‘to answer’ odgova
´
rati [Imprfv] odgovo
`
riti [Prfv]
Sln ‘to give to drink’ napa
´
jati [Imprfv] nap ojı
´
ti [Prfv]
(The other main imperfectivizing suffixes with -va- are discussed below.)
4.2.3 Vowel tone alternations
Alternations of tone occur in B/C/S and Slovenian (and also often operate together
with alternations of quality, especially high low /e o/ in Slovenian):
(14) B/C/S ‘father’ o
`
tac o`` c
ˇe
[VocSg]
‘to throw’ ba
´
citi ba
&
cen [Past Part Pass]
Sln ‘town’ me
´
.
sto me
&
.
sta [Pl]
‘to twist’ vı
´
ti vı
&
t [Sup]
4.2.4 Stress alternations
At the phonetic level, stress alternations result in quality alternations in those
languages in which quality is related to stress. These are treated in the next
section (4.2.5). The primary function of stress alternation lies in the shifting of
stress position within paradigms, which is possible only in languages with mobile
stress. In the two languages with fixed but mobile stress, that is, Polish and
Macedonian, the patterns are usually predictable on the basis of word shape.
198 4. Morphophonology