Re: [tied] Slavic endings

On 2006-08-08 22:47, Andrew Jarrette wrote:

> 3. What is the origin of Common Slavic *-u the dative singular of
> o-stems? How can this go back to *-o:i?

It seems that *o:i (with a long diphthong resulting from contraction)
went to Slavic *-u when in absolute Auslaut and to *-y when followed by
*-s (as in the ins.pl. ending *-o:is). There may have been a time when
the reflex of the diphthong was a mid-high long vowel *[o:] which was
raised to *-u: > *-y before *-s but otherwise merged with the
monophthongised reflex of *-au/*-ou. Lithuanian has -ui for *-o:i, which
also shows the raising influence of the final glide.

> 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?

The ending was contracted to *-â:s already in pre-BSl.; the vowel was
regularly raised before the final *s, producing something like *-o:s >
*-u: > *y.

> 5. What is the origin of the Slavic ending *-e of the dative singular of
> a:-stems?

It isn't *-e but *-e^ < *-a:i < *-ah2-ei.

> 6. Why does the genitive plural of a:-stems have no ending in modern
> Slavic languages?

Because *-ô:m > *-U > zero (in the modern languages), with the same
result of contraction both in *-a:-stems and in *-o-stems.

> 7. Why do a:-stems have a separate accusative ending, but o-stems do not?

Because *-a:m < *-ah2-m and *-ah2 developed differently while final *-om
and *-os probably did not (I know some of our Cybalisters would disagree
with this opinion, but I'll leave alternative explanations to them).

> 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:?

The merger of the _long_ vowels *o: and *a: is late (definitely
post-Proto-BSl.) and the two are distinguished not only in Baltic but in
Proto-Slavic endings as well. The development of PIE *-o:n in Slavic is
a difficult problem; the discussion of the details could fill a whole
new thread.

Piotr