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Lenition in Common Slavic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Henning Andersen
Henning Andersen*
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Abstract

Three different reflexes of Proto-Slavic *g and the reflex of *di̭ changed to fricatives in early Slavic. A hitherto unnoticed sequential constraint in Common Slavic, along with the geographical limitations of these changes, permits us to date them relative to the loss of syllable-final obstruents in CS1., to the fall of the jers, and to one another. Typological analysis shows that the source of the phonetic changes was a pronunciation rule implying phonemically tense vs. lax obstruents in CS1. The relative chronology established is significant for several problems of chronology within Slavic and for its relation to Baltic; and the set of concentric isoglosses defined throws light on the pattern of expansion of early Slavic.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 1969 , pp. 553 - 574
Copyright
Copyright © 1969 Linguistic Society of America

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