Carpathian historical development: Difference between revisions

Many heterorganic consonant clusters were assimilated in Proto-Carpathian, giving rise to geminate consonants: PIE ''*h₁n̥h₃mén'' > Carpathian ''immin'' “name”; PIE ''*déḱsinos'' > Common Carpathian ''deśśinas'' “right”. The combinations with ''*w'' and ''*j'' as a second element survived, although the clusters of dental consonants and *j underwent [[w:Iotation|iotation]]: ''*weĩśśinjāh'' > ''weisiniā'' “cherry” (Eastern [weɪ̀.si.ɲɑ], Western [weɪ̀.ʂi.ɲɑ], later degemination of *ś after a diphthong); labial consonants were not affected, while velar consonants show variation among various dialects: ''liaugā'' ~ ''liaudiā'' “puddle” (''"diV"'' represents the [ɟ] sound). Some dialects, particularly in the eastern highlands, also undergo [[w:Labialization|labialisation]], though this process is not regular or widespread: Standard ''swestī'' “sister” — [sʷɛ̀s.tiː] or [sỳs.tiː], sometimes spelt ''süstī'' in those dialects. The consonant *w was elided in clusters with labial consonants, followed by it: PIE ''*bʰuHeh₁t'' → Pre-Proto-Carpathian ''b'''w'''ēt'' — Carpathian ''bē'' “was”. Clusters with ''*h'' simplified by eliding the glottal fricative, except for clusters with sonorants, where ''h'' was the second element, which were preserved in most dialects (sometimes as plain voiceless sonorants).

Clusters of sonorants or sibilants, followed by plosives were permissible and thus remained unchanged. The reverse clusters (with plosives as the first element of a cluster), as well as clusters with more than two consonants and some heterorganic clusters, were resolved by vowel [[w:Epenthesis|anaptyxis]], also called '''pleophony''' after a similar process in the East Slavic languages: PIE ''*bʰrodʰos'' > Carpathian ''baràdas'' (Western ''boràdas'') “ford”. This also affected borrowings from the neighbouring languages: Slavic ''*korl′ь'' > Carpathian ''koròlias/karàlias'' “king”, the "rl"-cluster being a heterorganic sonorant cluster, difficult to pronounce. However, some complex consonant clusters were simply reduced instead: ''*dilbtilas'' > ''diltilas'' “woodpecker”. Clusters with a dental or velar plosive followed by a sibilant were usually resolved by assimilation to that sibilant: PIE ''*pleth₂-som'' — Modern Carpathian ''pelessa'' “glacial lake”; ''*muHdʰ-stlom'' — ''mūslis'' “thought” (via ''*mūssəsla'' → ''*mūsslis'' → ''mūslis''). When a sibilant is in a cluster between two consonants, it disappears: Proto-Carpathian ''*lōk'''š'''tawis'' — modern ''lōktawis'' “swallow” (from PIE ''*lek-ti'' “to jump”). A special case is initial clusters with a plosive, followed by a sibilant, in which case instead of pleophony, metathesis took place: PIE ''*k⁽ʷ⁾sowdós'' — Carpathian ''skaudùs'' “small, dispersed”.

The clusters of two plosives typically resulted in a geminate second consonant: PIE ''*septḿ̥'' > Proto-Carpathian ''se'''pt'''əmas'' > Eastern Carpathian ''se'''tt'''imas'' “seven” (Western ''settemas''). However, early geminate dental plosives were broken into homorganic clusters with fricatives as the first element: PIE ''*h₁éd-ti'' > Early Proto-Carpathian ''ē'''tt'''ei'' > Carpathian ''ē'''st'''ei'' “to eat”. The ''kt''-cluster was preserved unchanged: ''na'''kt'''is'' “night”, ''pa'''kt'''as'' “baked goods” (but ''*təranktas'' → ''tarankatas'' “crowd, throng”; ''*penktas'' → ''penkitas'' “fifth” because of a complex "nkt"-cluster).