Carpathian historical development: Difference between revisions

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 The primary distinction that defines Western and Eastern branches is the reflexes of Proto-Carpathian ''*ś'' and ''*ź''. In Western Carpathian the two became retroflex or postalveolar '''š''' and '''ž''' (with ''*ś'' merging with old ''*š''), while in Eastern Carpathian they resulted in '''s''' and '''z''' instead (with ''*ś'' merging with old ''*s'', keeping old ''š'' distinct and having no "ž"-phoneme in the native vocabulary).
 ===Affective š and z===
-The only source of the ''š'' sound in the Eastern dialect of Carpathian was the '''ruki''' law. However, the law was reversed before plosive consonants later, making the original ''š'' a relatively rare phoneme. This was likely the reason for why it gained an affective nature, substituting the original ''*s''. This change was not regular, however, and it did not affect Western Carpathian, in which ''š'' was common. Examples of such words include: Eastern ''pal'''š'''as'' “commotion”, ''pil'''š'''as'' “dormouse”, '''''š'''armas'' “harm” (from ''*śar̃mas'', but Western ''pol'''s'''as'', ''pel'''s'''as (“mouse”), '''''š'''armas''.
+The only source of the ''š'' sound in the Eastern dialect of Carpathian was the '''ruki''' law. However, the law was reversed before plosive consonants later, making the original ''š'' a relatively rare phoneme. This was likely the reason for why it gained an affective nature, substituting the original ''*s''. This change was not regular, however, and it did not affect Western Carpathian, in which ''š'' was common. Examples of such words include: Eastern ''pal'''š'''as'' “commotion”, ''pil'''š'''as'' “dormouse”, '''''š'''armas'' “harm” (from ''*śar̃mas''), but Western ''pol'''s'''as'', ''pel'''s'''as (“mouse”), '''''š'''armas'' (with a regular outcome of ''*ś'').
+In the Western dialects, since ''ź'' became ''ž'', there was no separate phoneme ''*z'', which was only present before ''d'' and ''g'' as an allophone of ''*s'': ''mo'''z'''gū'' “brain” from PIE ''*mosgʰḗn''. After the Western-Eastern split a new affective ''z'' appeared in Western Carpathian from the original ''s'' in a similar fashion to ''š'' of Eastern Carpathian, however, this sound change was more regular and is called '''Zupitsa's law''' which formulates the following: in words with a nasal consonant initial or an initial voiced plosive followed by ''r'' or ''l'', ''*s'' becomes ''z'': ('''#*NV(N)s->#NV(N)z-''' or '''#*DVRV(N)s->#DVRV(N)z-'''): ''mem'''z'''a'' “meat”, ''golō'''z'''a'' “glitter”, ''girim'''z'''is'' “dirt” (Eastern ''messa'', ''galōsa'' and ''girissis'' respectively). The only exception from this law is the final ''-s''.
+===Nasal assimilation===
+The nasal consonants did not assimilate to following consonants in Proto-Carpathians, which is also true for almost all modern dialects: Western Carpathian ''šu'''m'''ta'' “hundred”, Eastern Carpathian ''i'''m'''tei'' “to take, to have”. However, in Eastern Carpathian a nasal consonant always assimilates to its following fricative: dial. ''gassis'' “goose” (standard ''gansis''), ''sassēdas'' “neighbour” (dial. ''sansēdas'', Western ''samsēdas''). In the standard only ''*m'' assimilates, while ''*n'' usually stays intact, only becoming [ŋ] before velars. The dialect of the Eastern Carpathian Highlands keeps the cluster ''nh'' distinct from ''n'', usually as voiceless [n̥], since /h/ is typically voiceless near other consonants in that dialect: ''swanhas'' “sound”, ''tinhus'' “thin” (most dialects have ''swanas'' and ''tinus'', Western standard ''swonas'', ''tinus'').
-In the Western dialects, since ''ź'' became ''ž'', there was no separate phoneme ''*z'', which was only present before ''d'' and ''g'' as an allophone of ''*s'': ''mo'''z'''gū'' “brain” from PIE ''*mosgʰḗn''. After the Western-Eastern split a new affective ''z'' appeared in Western Carpathian from the original ''s'' in a similar fashion to ''š'' of Eastern Carpathian, however, this sound change was more regular and is called '''Zupitsa's law''' which formulates the following": in words with a nasal consonant initial or an initial voiced plosive followed by ''r'' or ''l'', ''*s'' becomes ''z'': ('''#*NV(N)s->#NV(N)z-''' or '''#*DVRV(N)s->#DVRV(N)z-'''): ''mem'''z'''a'' “meat”, ''golō'''z'''a'' “glitter”, ''girim'''z'''is'' “dirt” (Eastern ''messa'', ''galōsa'' and ''girissa'' respectively). The only exception from this law is the final ''-s''.
 ===Alternations between *e and *a reflexes===
 Initial *a and *e (as well as their long counterparts) tend to alternate between two Carpathian dialect groups. In Eastern Carpathian the reflex is usually '''a''', while in Western Carpathian it is '''e''' instead. Long "ē" and "ā" are more stable, but can appear in affective terminology: Western ''d'''ē'''dis'' — ''d'''ā'''dis'' “uncle”; ''d'''ē'''la'' ― ''d'''ā'''la'' “deed, action”; ''r'''ē'''nā'' — ''r'''ā'''nā'' “wound”. A special case in the ''er-ar''-vacillation, because the process is regular in the two branches: Western '''''e'''r'''e'''llas'' — Eastern '''''a'''r'''a'''llas'' “plough”, '''''e'''rmū'' — '''''a'''rmū'' “shoulder”. Rozwadowski's rule, shared with Balto-Slavic, may be a part of this general trend. According to this rule the original *e and *a were mixed, and both became "e" in Western Carpathian and "a" in Eastern Carpathian with few rare exceptions: Proto-Carpathian ''*éźera'' “lake” resulted in Western '''''e'''žera'' and Eastern '''''a'''zera''; ''*eske'' “still” → ''eske'' — ''aske''; ''*àlawa'' “lead” → ''elowa'' — ''alawa''; ''*àpsā'' “aspen” → ''espā'' — ''aspā'' (dial. ''àssis''). The rule only affected the absolute initial position, and is thus different from other e-a-vacillations.
+===Western a-labialisation===
+The phoneme *a likely had two allophones already in Proto-Carpathian – plain *a and labialised *å, also called "strong a" and "weak a" respectively. In Eastern Carpathian the two allophones merged into a single open back vowel, while in most Western Carpathian dialects *å rose to /o/, becoming a short counterpart to the original long *ō. This new short "o" was phonemised by separating the alternations of "o" and "ō" from "a" and "ā", as well as borrowing of new words, which contained this sound.
 [[Category:Carpathian]]