Phonological history of Carnian

This article describes the development of the phonology of Carnian over time, starting from its roots in Proto-Slavic to modern Carnian.

From Proto-Slavic to Old Carnian

Northwestern Alpine Slavic Substrate

Carnian evolved from Northwestern Alpine Slavic, a peripheral West Slavic variety that retained several archaic Proto-Slavic features not found in neighboring languages. These conservative elements include:

• Preservation of the open realization of *ě as [æ]
• Retention of *tl and *dl clusters
• Maintenance of the phonemic distinction between *i and *y
• Conservation of the prefix *vy-
• Absence of palatalization before *v

The peripheral geographic position of NWAS within the Slavic dialectal continuum accounts for these retentions, as the variety remained relatively isolated from the innovations that characterized the South Slavic core area.

Liquid Metathesis

Carnian exhibits distinctive reflexes of Proto-Slavic liquid diphthongs that differ substantially from other regional Slavic languages. This divergence results from the prolonged preservation of liquid syllabicity, with its loss occurring chronologically after metathesis processes had been completed.

oRT Sequences

In the oRT sequences, the retention of liquid syllabicity did not trigger vowel lengthening in the preceding syllable. Lengthening occurred exclusively in syllables bearing acute accent, yielding RaT, while non-acute syllables developed RoT reflexes. This pattern parallels developments in North Slavic languages rather than the typical South Slavic treatment.

ToRT and TeRT Sequences

Proto-Slavic *ToRT and *TeRT sequences underwent metathesis without compensatory lengthening, producing TRoT and TReT respectively. The subsequent loss of liquid syllabicity triggered insertion of an epenthetic vowel preceding the liquid consonant: TRoT > TəRoT, TReT > TəReT. This development resembles East Slavic pleophony, though without consistent vowel assimilation.

Epenthetic ə merged later with one of the existing vowel phonemes, most commonly with e, o, or a. Merger with e and o reflects assimilation to the following vowel and is most consistent in TəreT, TəleT and TəloT sequences. In TəroT sequences, ə was often colored by the rhotic, resulting in a (cf. *gordъ > gərod > gard).

TьRT and TъRT Sequences

The *TьRT and *TъRT sequences likewise underwent metathesis. After the loss of weak yers, they first produced syllabic liquids (Tr̥T, Tl̥T, Tł̥T), which later resolved into TərT, TəlT, and TəłT. The epenthetic ə generally merged with e, most regularly in TəlT sequences. In TərT sequences, the rhotic exerted a strong a-coloring influence, though reflexes in e also appear. The TəłT pattern shows the usual merger with e, but rare cases of merger with o occur as well (cf. *sъlnьce > sł̥nse > sołnse > sonse).

The distinctive character of Carnian liquid reflexes stems from the subsequent operation of posttonic syncope (see the section on syncope), which eliminated many of the unstressed vowels directly following the accented syllable, yielding forms that superficially resemble the original Proto-Slavic sequences while differing in vowel quality and liquid syllabicity. Traces of the pleophonic stage remain visible in lexical items where posttonic vowels escaped elision, as in *serdьnъjь > srednij > sərednij > serenny 'middle'.

Yer Developments

Weak Yer Loss

Following Havlík's Law, weak yers underwent gradual elision while strong yers vocalized to full mid vowels. Carnian resembles neighboring South Slavic languages in frequent preservation of word-initial yers, similar to Slovene and Chakavian. The degree of initial yer retention varies between words, sometimes yielding doublets regionally (*pъtica > petisa / petza, tisa).

Crucially, Carnian maintained the original front/back distinction among vocalized yers. Front yer *ь vocalized to ẹ, subsequently breaking to ie (except following palatal consonants, where it remained e). Back yer *ъ developed to ə, with subsequent evolution varying by phonetic environment and geographic region. Common outcomes include merger with e or a, though occasional merger with o also occurs.

Tense Yers

Tense yer sequences *ьj and *ъj received special treatment with lexically conditioned outcomes. While some items follow regular vocalization patterns (*kъjь > kei 'what'), others exhibit merger to ïj [ɪj] (modern y), particularly in adjectival morphology. This development appears to result from j-induced assimilation combined with analogical leveling, with presumed intermediate stages *ьj > ẹj and *ъj > əj before phonemic merger.

This process preceded the general contraction of *VjV > V̄, which operated concurrently across the Carnian speech territory.

Nasal Vowel Developments

Proto-Slavic nasal vowels *ę and *ǫ were inherited in Carnian, with *ǫ undergoing early delabialization to ą. Denasalization proceeded through decomposition to vowel + nasal consonant sequences ([Vm] or [Vn] depending on the following consonant environment). Word-final nasal vowels demonstrated greater stability, eventually denasalizing to long vowels that attracted stress (cf. Nom. noga vs. Acc. nogà < nogą).

The chronology of denasalization can be established relative to other changes: it began before the loss of third-person plural *-tь (evidenced by modern -n in copan < *copąt 'they kick'), and was completed by the Late Middle Ages, when only word-final nasal vowels received orthographic marking. The word-final denasalization process clearly postdates the establishment of the penultimate accent (see the section on penultimate accent).

i-y Merger

Unlike neighboring South Slavic languages, Carnian generally preserves *y as a distinct phoneme. However, two waves of partial merger with *i can be identified:

1. Early merger (ca. 10th century): Limited to specific lexical items, commonly when *y followed coronal consonants (*ty > Old Carnian tī). This development is documented in the Freising Manuscripts.
2. Later merger: Accent-conditioned merger occurring during the vowel reduction period (see the section on vowel reduction).

Spirantization

Common Slavic *dz became z throughout the South Slavic area, followed in Carnian by deaffrication of *c to s. This development may be attributed to the loss of the voiced counterpart *dz, leaving *c without a phonemic partner, unlike *č, which retained its voiced correlate.

Alternatively, this change may reflect a broader spirantization tendency particularly prominent in Carinthia. The spirantization *g > ɣ reached Carnian relatively early, though it never encompassed the entire speech territory. Later developments included *b > β and *d > ð. Much of this spirantization was subsequently reversed due to sociolinguistic pressures, as spirantized forms acquired low-prestige associations.

Contemporary dialects maintaining lenited pronunciation (concentrated in Alpine regions) can be classified according to distributional patterns:

• Regular /b, d, g/ with lenited /β, ð, ɣ/ intervocalically only
• Lenited /β, ð, ɣ/ in all positions (with allophones [ɸ, θ, x] in dialects with word-final devoicing)

Regional Shared Innovations

Carnian participates in several innovations that developed across the broader Alpine Slavic area, shared with neighboring Slovene, Kajkavian, and Chakavian varieties:

• Absence of general palatalization before front vowels
• Preservation of long falling syllables
• Development of prothetic *v before word-initial *u
• *ď > j in lexically restricted contexts, creating doublets (*meďu > mei, medio)
• Rhotacization *ž > r before vowels (*može da > morda), extended beyond medial positions in Carnian, yielding doublets (*možete > mogiete, morete; *žena > giena, rena)

Old Carnian Period

The Old Carnian period witnessed fundamental phonological restructuring that established the foundation of the modern language. External influences together with internal innovations produced the characteristic features that distinguish contemporary Carnian.

The early stage of Old Carnian had the following vowels:

Vowel phonemes of the early Old Carnian

	Front			Central		Back
	short	long	nasal	short	long	short	long	nasal
Close	i	iː		ɘ	ɘː	u	uː
Close-mid	e			ə
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛː	ɛ̃			ɔ	ɔː	ʌ̃
Open	æ	æː		a	aː
Diphthong	ɪi̯

The language also had the following consonants:

Consonant phonemes of the early Old Carnian

		Labial	Dental / Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Dorsal
Nasal		m	n		nʲ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		tʲ	k
	voiced	b	d		dʲ	ɡ
Affricate	voiceless			tʃ
	voiced			dʒ
Fricative	voiceless		s	ʃ		x
	voiced		z	ʒ
Approximant		ʋ	l		j, lʲ
Flap			ɾ		ɾʲ

Accent System Restructuring

Old Carnian experienced a major accent shift from the inherited free and mobile Proto-Slavic system to fixed stem-initial stress. Pitch distinctions were preserved: retracted rising accent became falling, and vice versa. Most prefixes remained unstressed, though their accentual behavior varied according to morphological function.

This development is attributed to High German influence, spreading from northern regions that experienced intensive Germanization.

Vowel Reduction and Syncope

Accentual system restructuring destabilized the vowel inventory. Unstressed long vowels underwent shortening, along with the loss of phonemic contrast between the pairs i-y, e-ě, and o-u, leaving four contrasting vowel phonemes in unstressed syllables: a, e, i, and o. Due to the merger patterns, it can be inferred that reduced vowels shifted toward more mid-central positions than full vowels, just as they are pronounced in modern Carnian. Vowel reduction did not always affect diphthongs and nasal vowels, which maintained their full quality regardless of accent.

Unstressed vowels became susceptible to elision in posttonic syllables, occurring most frequently after sonorants and fricatives, though other environments are also documented (*jeden > jen). High vowels showed greatest susceptibility to elision, followed by mid vowels, with low vowels demonstrating greatest resistance.

During the transition to vowel loss, a transitional vowel ə̆ often appeared as an intermediate stage. Its ambiguous phonetic quality never received systematic orthographic representation, leading to variant spellings (malina ~ malna), where words retained historical vowel letters or omitted the vowel entirely. This transitional vowel disappeared by the 18th century.

Consonant Cluster Simplification

Weak yer deletion and posttonic syncope generated numerous complex consonant clusters requiring simplification through two primary strategies:

1. Epenthetic vowel insertion: Typically ə or its derivatives (*ogňь > ogen)
2. Cluster reduction: Through consonant elision, assimilation, or lenition

The choice between strategies correlated with morphological factors: clusters in morphologically central forms (e.g., nominative singular) showed greater resistance to reduction when other paradigmatic forms permitted cluster maintenance (Nom. *ogňь > ogəň vs. Gen. *ogňa > ogəňa instead of expected oňňa). Sometimes the oblique forms prevailed, leading to epenthetic vowel elision, especially in suffixes where new clusters were permitted (Gen. *synъka > sœnca, Nom. *synъkъ > sœnəc > sœnc).

Cluster simplification operated according to sonority and articulatory constraints. Assimilation occurred most commonly when a stop was followed by a nasal or lateral consonant (tn, dn, kn, gn > nn; dl, gl > ll) and in sibilant + affricate sequences (šč > šš, ždž > žž). Labial and voiced stops often escaped simplification processes.

The velar fricative x demonstrated particular instability. In initial clusters, it was deleted entirely (e.g., xm, xn, xl > m, n, l), while in complex environments it triggered deletion of adjacent stops or coalescence into a separate phoneme (see the relevant section below).

While many Slavic languages underwent some sort of cluster simplification and insertion of epenthetic vowels after the loss of yers, Carnian experienced it in the most far-reaching way. Significantly restructured and shortened words, along with geminated consonants, became a defining characteristic distinguishing Carnian from other Slavic languages.

Geminate Consonant Development

Consonant cluster simplification frequently yielded geminated consonants through assimilation. Progressive assimilation (first consonant to second) predominated (*radlo > rallo), though regressive assimilation also occurred, including in *šč and *ždž clusters (*ščenę > sienè, *dъždžь > deġ).

Geminate stability varied positionally, with word-initial and word-final geminates showing a tendency toward degemination (with compensatory lengthening of the adjacent vowel when possible). Geminates preceded or followed by a consonant also experienced shortening (*kortъkaja > corotta > cortta > corta, which is another example of progressive assimilation, vowel assimilation in pleophony, and a case where the predicative adjective assimilated to the non-predicative form: *kortъkъ > cort).

Modern Carnian preserves the following native geminate set: /mm, nn, pp, tt, kk, t͡s:, t͡ʃ:, ss, ʃʃ, ll/. All geminates function as syllable boundaries, with the first element closing the preceding syllable.

Phonemic Innovation

Cluster simplification processes generated new phonemes absent from the inherited system:

• /f/ development: Coalescence of [xʋ] clusters (*xvaliti > falit) introduced /f/, absent in Proto-Slavic. Phonemicization became evident when /f/ appeared unaltered in loanwords.

• /t͡s/ restoration: ts and ds clusters coalesced to [t͡s:] (jagodisa > jagotza), restoring this affricate eliminated during earlier spirantization. Initially predominantly geminate, word-final occurrence as a singleton developed (*noťьcejǫ > notzoi [nɔ̂t͡s:ɔɪ̯], *noťьsь > notz [nɔ̂t͡s]). This development, combined with dž loss, reestablished symmetry between alveolar and postalveolar sibilant series.

Depalatalization

Proto-Slavic palatalized consonants (ň, ť, ď, ĺ, ř) underwent systematic depalatalization with varying outcomes:

• Liquids ĺ, ř: Early depalatalization to plain /l/, /r/, with temporary contrast between l and ł before merger
• Nasals and stops ň, ť, ď: Variable outcomes including /n/, /nj/, /jn/; /t/, /tj/, /jt/; /d/, /dj/, /jd/
• Assibilation: ť occasionally developed to /t͡s/ (*pleťe > pletzi)

The distribution of /Cj/ versus /jC/ outcomes correlates with position: /Cj/ predominates initially and medially before vowels, while /jC/ appears word-finally or before final vowels. This suggests original /Cj/ development with subsequent metathesis in final environments, spreading through paradigmatic leveling (Nom. coin < *koňь, Gen. coina < *koňa 'horse').

Complete depalatalization /Cʲ/ > /C/ is less frequent and appears most commonly word-finally, in clusters, and in some words due to analogy with other inflected forms which lacked the palatalization.

Importantly, most /Cj/ sequences resulting from yer loss remained distinct from depalatalized consonants, except liquid sequences lj, rj, which merged with ĺ, ř reflexes (*veselьje > vesele).

L-vocalization

Following ĺ depalatalization, Carnian maintained two lateral phonemes: plain l [l] (continuing *l before front vowels and lost front yers, plus *ĺ) and velarized ł [ɫ] (continuing *l before non-front vowels). Syllable-coda ł vocalized to u̯, excluding word-final nominal positions (*palъka > pauca, *davalъ > davau, *stolъ > stoł). This parallels developments in Belarusian, Ukrainian, Slovak, and Slovene dialects.

Yat Evolution

The yat vowel ě maintained its open character [æ] well beyond Common Slavic disintegration. During Old Carnian, it developed to the centering diphthong [ɛɐ̯] preserved in modern Carnian, as indicated by digraph spelling ⟨ea⟩ already in Late Medieval writings. This evolution parallels Slovak ä development (< *ę).

Although modern ea distribution is limited to stem-initial syllables, Carnian remains among the few Slavic languages preserving *ě as a distinct phoneme. The consistent Old Carnian orthography and modern regional variation between [æ] and [ɛ] in closed syllables suggests original development to [ɛɐ̯] in all environments with subsequent monophthongization in closed syllables.

Open Syllable Lengthening

Following unstressed vowel shortening, length became associated with accent, and subsequently with syllable structure. All short vowels in stressed open syllables underwent lengthening, while all vowels in closed syllables were shortened. This correlation between vowel length and syllable structure, found throughout medieval Europe (including High German, Italian Romance varieties, and Slovene), eliminated the phonemic status of vowel length.

ī-Breaking

Old Carnian high vowels demonstrated considerable instability. Long ī broke to ïj, merging with existing tense yer reflexes. The distribution overlap with Proto-Slavic *ī in stem-initial syllables indicates that breaking preceded open syllable lengthening but followed unstressed vowel shortening (*pivo > pīvo but *glīsta > lijsta, modern lysta).

u-Fronting

During Late Old Carnian, u fronted to a position between [ɵ̝] and [ʊ], preserved in modern Carnian. Following labial and velar consonants, this process was disrupted through epenthetic u̯ insertion, with subsequent delabialization and fronting of the vowel, yielding u̯i. This development reflects the incompatibility between consonant articulation (labial rounding, velar backing) and vowel fronting.

High Vowel Diphthong Dissimilation

The unstable Old Carnian high vowel system underwent systematic restructuring through diphthong dissimilation. When diphthongs contained i̯ or u̯ as the less prominent element, the nuclear vowel lowered: ïi̯ > ei̯, iu̯ > eu̯, i̯u > i̯o, u̯i > u̯e, ui̯ > oi̯, i̯i > i̯e. This accounts for u̯e reflexes of u following labials and velars (*buřa > buera), eu̯ in i-stem verb participles (prosit, proseu), and ei̯ from tense yers and ī-breaking. The latter phoneme shows considerable regional variation, from standard [ɛɪ̯] to local realizations ranging [ɪi̯] ~ [äɪ̯].

œ Development

Proto-Slavic *y survived as a distinct phoneme except in documented merger contexts (see the sections on i-y Merger and vowel reduction). Over time it lowered to /ɜ/, as preserved in modern Carnian. This lowering postdated vowel reduction (where *y merged with *i into ï) but preceded high vowel diphthong dissimilation (where *yu̯ regularly yields œu̯).

The spelling ⟨œ⟩ was introduced during the Late Middle Ages. While modern /ɜ/ is not front rounded, it exhibits slight lip rounding [ɜ̜], unusual for *y, which lost labialization in Proto-Slavic. Two explanations have been proposed:

• *y in the Carnian speech territory retained some degree of rounding
• During lowering, *y achieved a more advanced pronunciation [ɘ̟], sharing place of articulation with High German ö, potentially influencing rounding development. This hypothesis can be supported by the Carinthian dialect, which experienced the highest degree of Germanization, realizing œ as a front rounded vowel [œ].

Modern Carnian Developments

Penultimate and Ultimate Accent

The transition from Old to Modern Carnian witnessed another major accent shift toward penultimate syllables, originating in coastal dialects around the 16th century and spreading northward. This development likely reflects Romance influence, particularly the penultimate stress preference prevalent in regional Romance varieties. While now considered standard, northernmost dialects, especially those in Alpine valleys, retain stem-initial accent.

The stress-length correlation remained operative during this shift: newly stressed open syllables underwent lengthening, while previously long syllables losing stress were shortened.

The unstressable ə̆ blocked penultimate shift when occurring in that position. Several later developments created ultimate accent exceptions:

• Final vowel loss (visible in infinitives: *-ti > -t)
• Analogical extension in predicative adjectives and participles
• Word-final nasal vowel denasalization with lengthening and stress attraction
• Loanword ultimate accent (from Italian, French)

Ł-L Merger

The original l / ł contrast was eliminated through merger to a single phoneme [l]. Velarized realization was preserved in syllable codas and extended to previously plain *l through merger (*solь > sol [sɔ̂l] > [sɔ̂ɫ]).

Some dialects exhibit ṡuapanie, where velarized ł is realized as u̯. These dialects vary in whether the original contrast is preserved (sol vs. stou̯) or lost (sou̯, stou̯).

Postalveolar Consonant Developments

While Carnian generally preserves postalveolar ċ, ġ, ṡ, leveling occurred in specific environments:

• ċ lenited to ṡ in clusters and word-finally (*covaċ > covaṡ 'smith'), with analogical extension (Gen. covaṡa)
• Assimilation to alveolar counterparts in clusters containing alveolar consonants (*ṡtœri > stœri 'four'), primarily affecting ṡ and ġ as ċ had been eliminated from most clusters