Carpathian historical development: Difference between revisions

===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.

[[Category:Carpathian]]