Re: Slavic endings

From: tgpedersen
Message: 45663
Date: 2006-08-09

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:
>
> This has probably been referred to many, many times on cybalist, but
I am seeking a definitive answer (and the search function on cybalist
gives me trouble because it's hard to isolate this subject matter,
I've tried already).
>
> 1. What is the origin of Common Slavic *-U the nom./acc. sg. of
masc. o-stems? I think I once read that it comes from the accusative
*-om which became *-U due to nasalization. But then what about the
neuters with *-om (next question)?
> 2. What is the origin of Common Slavic *-o the nom./acc. sg. of
neuter o-stems? I believe I've read that it is held to have come from
*-od which is an importation from the pronouns -- correct? But why do
neuter s-stems also have *-o in their nom./acc. sg., while retaining
*-es- in other cases and numbers?
> 3. What is the origin of Common Slavic *-u the dative singular of
o-stems? How can this go back to *-o:i?
> 4. What is the origin of Common Slavic *-y the genitive singular
and nominative plural of a:-stems? How can this go back to *-a: +
*-es/os?
> 5. What is the origin of the Slavic ending *-e of the dative
singular of a:-stems?
> 6. Why does the genitive plural of a:-stems have no ending in
modern Slavic languages?
> 7. Why do a:-stems have a separate accusative ending, but o-stems
do not?
> 8. Why does OCS have <kamy> "stone" with <-y> from *-o:n, but
*-a:m becomes <-o,> (nasalized /o/)? Wouldn't both have evolved from
proto-Slavic nasalized *a:?
>
> I hope someone will be willing to answer these questions, as I
find the Slavic inflectional endings to be mysterious when compared to
the IE endings.
>

This might povide some answers:
http://tinyurl.com/osq96

Schmalstieg, as far as understand, toyed with the idea of
constructing the thematic endings by adding *-en-/-on- (ie.
the n-stem element) to the stem before the case endings.
(Which means the thematic vowel is actually PPIE *-an-,
leaving room for a PPIE *a -> PIE *a).
He ends up with a lot of "sandhi variants" that people
criticize.


Torsten