Krivichian dialect of Proto-Slavic (long)

The language of Old Russian birch bark inscriptions has been
mentioned several times in the discussions on this list. It has some
unique features yet not generally known even to Slavicists, so I
guess a brief of its characteristics might be of some use here.

1. The language mostly reflexes the Krivichian dialect of Proto-
Slavic. Krivichi (Old Russian Krivic^i < (Proto-Slavic) *kriv- <
(Balto-Slavic) *kreiv- 'bend, tear off' + patronymic *-itj-) might be
the most 'Baltoid' (hence, probably, most 'archaic') of the Slavic
tribes. Their name is somehow related to Lith. Kri`ve.-Kriva'itis 'a
representative of an old priestly lineage', krivu`le. 'a crooked
staff of a chieftain-priest' (both < *kriv-, ablauted *kreiv-,
Kriva'itis < *kriv-a- + patronymic *-Hit-i-). They inhabited the
Dnieper sources and thereabouts. The Latvians still call the
Russians 'Krivichians'.

2. Phonetic features
(no special effort made to distinguish phonemic and phonetic
levels, /@/ stands for some kind of schwa, /G/ for
fricative /g/, /s'/,/z'/,/c'/ - close to Polish s',z',c', /AE/ - open
e close to English a in gap; /e./ - narrow e close to German eh;
contemporary dialects = those that considered descendants of
Krivichian).

2.1. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*TerT,*TelT Ter@...,Tol@...:Tel@... TeryT, TolyT:TelyT
*TorT,*TolT Tor@...,Tol@... ToryT, TolyT
*TIrT T(I)rIT:T(I)rUT TreT:TerT:Trot
*TIlT T(U)lUT:T(I)lUT TloT:TolT:TolyT:TelT
*TUrT T(U)rUT TroT:TorT:ToryT
*TUlT T(U)lUT TloT:TolT:TolyT

These feature (*TerT > Ter@... etc.) can't be classified as South, East
or West Slavic.
Charasteristic 'Standard Old Russian' development ( > TereT etc)
failed. One Krivichian form was naturalized even in today's Standard
Russian (in a folksay iz ogn'a da v polym'a 'out of the frying-pan
into the fire', po'lym'a 'fire, Acc.' < (Kriv.) *pol@..., < (Proto-
Slavic) *po~lme, 'flame', proper Standard Russian form would be
*polom'a.

2.2. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*k{e^,i2} k'{e^,i2} k{e,i}
*g{e^,i2} g'{e^,i2} g{e,i}
*x{e^,i2} x'{e^,i2} x{e,i}
These feature (failed 'second palatalization') is unique among all
the registered Slavic idioms. Cf. 'Standard Old Russian' development
(> c{e^,i} etc).

2.3. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*kv{e^,i,I} no change kv{e,i}
*gv{e^,i,I} no change gv{e,i}
*xv{e^,i,I} no change xv{e,i}
The same picture in West Slavic. Charasteristic 'Standard Old
Russian' development ( > cv{e^,i,I} etc) failed. Cf. Ukrainian
kvitka 'a flower' < *kve^tUk-.

2.4. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*Ix no change x
These feature (failed 'third palatalization' for /x/) is unique among
all the registered Slavic idioms. Cf. 'Standard Old Russian'
development (> Is').

2.5. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*tj k' k':(before back vowels)k
*dj g' g':z':(before back vowels)g
*sj x' x':(before back vowels)x
*zj G' G':(before back vowels)G
*stj s'k' ?
*zdj z'g' ?
*skj,*sk{e,i,I} s'k' ?
*zgj,*zg{e,i,I} z'g' ?

These feature (*tj > k' etc.) can't be classified as South, East or
West Slavic.
Charasteristic 'Standard Old Russian' development ( > c^ etc) failed.

2.6. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*tl kl kl
*dl gl gl
These feature (*tl > kl etc.) can't be classified as South, East or
West Slavic.
Cf. charasteristic 'Standard Old Russian' development ( > l).

2.7. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*k{e,i,I},Ik c' c
*kj c' c
*s{e,i,I} s' s'
*z{e,i,I},*Ig z' z'
*x{e,i,I} s' ?
*sj s' s'
*zj z' z'
*s^ s' s'
*z^ z' z'
These feature (neutralazation of difference between s' and s^ etc)
can't be classified as South, East or West Slavic.
Cf. charasteristic 'Standard Old Russian' development (no
neutralization).

2.8. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*e^ AE,eAE 'a
Similar picture in South and West Slavic. Cf.
charasteristic 'Standard Old Russian' development (> e. : ei>ie).

2.9. Proto-Slavic Krivichian Contemporary dialects
*s,*s^<*xj,x{e,i,I} x (in some positions) x

3. Morphology.

3.1. a:-declination.
G. sing., N. pl. -e^ (<e^2, [e^ nasalized?]). Cf. 'Standard Old
Russian' -y (<y2).
Something similar in West Slavic (?, Piotr?).

3.2. o-declination.
N. sing. -e (sic!). {k,g,x} before this -e > {k',g',x'} (as if
the 'first palatalization' failed). Nouns, adjectives, participles
and pronouns are equally affected.
Acc. sing. is normal -U.

These feature (-U expected, opposition N.:Acc. not neutralized) is
unique among all the registered Slavic idioms.
Attempts to explain:
a. From Voc. sing. -e (Sobolevsky). Unlikely.
b. -U > -e fonetically (Borkovsky, Zhukovskaya). Unlikely.
c. -e directly continues Proto-IE casus indefinitus (traces in
Hittite, Tocharian) (Ivanov). Too romantic.
d. Proto-IE *-os > *@ (>-e) in Proto-Krivichian, while >U in all
other Proto-Slavic dialects (Nikolayev, Dybo, Zalizniak). Problematic.
e. By analogy with -jo- declination (may be so as to preserve N.:Acc.
opposition) (Vermeer, Krysko [who I contacted personally]). Most
perspective?

D. sing. -ovi (by analogy with u-declination).
The same picture in West Slavic. Cf. 'Standard Old Russian' -u.

3.3. Extremely archaic adjectival declination (close to that of OCS).
No 'Standard Old Russian' forms like G.sing.masc./neut. -ogo
(Krivichian - -a:-ago).
Some features (G. sing. fem. -e^e^ > -e^i) are characteristic of West
Slavic.

3.4. Pronominal declination.
tU 'that': *e^ > *i in declination paradigm (*te^xU > tixU).
Something similar in Slovenian.
ty 'you (2 pers. sing.)': tobe^, sobe^, like in Polish and Checz (but
not Slovak and Sorbish).

3.5. Conjugation.
3 sing./plur. praes.: no characteristic -tI (z^ive instead of
*z^ivetI).

1. plur. praes.: -me (like in Checz, Slovak, Bulgarian and some
Ruthenian :)))), Torsten, are you there? dialects). 'Standard Old
Russian' and most other Slavic idioms have -mU.

Praes. part. in /-e,/ even in 'hard' stems (idi-/ide,/ nesti-/nese,/,
close to Old Serbian?). Cf. 'Standard Old Russian' ida (close to
Checz jda, Old Polish relic rzeka), OCS idy.

4. Word formation.

Possessive -ov- > -ev- after -k- (ZuikevU 'of ZuikU' instead of
*ZuikovU.). Resembles Polish last names like Mick-iew-icz).

5. Lexis.

Two scores of words, not registered for other Slavic idioms.
Inappreciably small bias to West Slavic vs. East Slavic. Germanic and
Finno-Ugric loans.

Sergei