--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:
> If, as Piotr just mentioned, some Kashubian dialects still
> preserve uncontracted -ajeN, I don't think there's any point
> in trying to explain Slovincian forms by an appeal to early
> contractions.
Still a possibility remains that the *-VjV- contraction was a
dialectal phenomenon in Common Slavic. Statistically, it looks as if
East Slavic is mostly immune to contraction while West Slavic is
mostly prone to it, with South Slavic being somewhere in between.
Anyway, the Slovincian forms should be explained this way or other,
and Stang's text must still make some sense (not exactly the one
presented in my posting -- I could well misread him).
> What does it mean for an a/aje-verb with monosyllabic root
> to be a.p. b? As far as I can see, there should be no
> difference between a.p. b and c here.
Well, if one assumes early dialectal contraction at least in
posttonic (before Dybo's Law) positions, we could still distinguish
three types in *a/aje-verbs, which can be notated (a), (b) and (c)
merely for convenience's sake:
(a) columnal stress on the acute root: *de^"lati 'make', *de^"lajes^I
(b) columnal stress on the non-acute root: *pýtati 'ask', *pýtajes^I
(c) columnal stress on the acute suffix: *kopa"ti 'dig', kopa"jes^I.
After the posttonic contraction we have:
(a) *de^"lati, *de^"la:s^I
(b) *pýtati 'ask', *pýta:s^I (ý -- long rising)
(c) *kopa"ti 'dig', kopa"jes^I
After Dybo's Law:
(a) *de^"lati, *de^"la:s^I
(b) *py:ta"ti 'ask', *py:tâs^I (â -- long falling)
(c) *kopa"ti 'dig', kopa"jes^I
After Stang-Ivs^ic''s Law:
(a) *de^"lati, *de^"la:s^I
(b) *py:ta"ti 'ask', *pýtas^I
(c) *kopa"ti 'dig', kopa"jes^I
And later (optional) contractions in non-posttonic positions (eg.,
kopa"jes^I > C^ak. (Novi) kopâs^ with long falling â vs. *pýtas^I >
píta:s^).
Thus the (b) type, showing neo-acute in the present, can still be in
some sense paralleled to the proper b-verbs. Cf. pp. 123-125
of "Slavonic Accentuation".
Sergei