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The Slavic liquid metathesis refers to the phenomenon of metathesis of
liquid consonant In linguistics, a liquid consonant or simply liquid is any of a class of consonants that consists of rhotics and voiced lateral approximants, which are also sometimes described as "R-like sounds" and "L-like sounds". The word ''liquid'' seems ...
s in the
Common Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...
period in the South Slavic and West Slavic area. The closely related corresponding phenomenon of pleophony (also known as polnoglasie or full vocalization) occurred in parallel in the
East Slavic languages The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of the Slavic languages, distinct from the West Slavic languages, West and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, ...
. The change acted on syllables in which the
Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...
liquid consonants *''r'' and *''l'' occurred in a coda position. The result of the change is dependent upon the phonological environment and accents, and it varies in different Slavic languages. The change has been dated to the second half of the 8th century, before any Slavic languages were recorded in writing. Therefore, the change itself cannot be observed, but it can be inferred by comparing words in different Slavic languages. Evidence of the earlier state of affairs is also preserved in
loanwords A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
into and from Early Slavic as well as in
cognates In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the soun ...
in other
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
, particularly
Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people
.


Background

During the Common Slavic period, a tendency, known as the law of open syllables, led to a series of changes that eliminated closed syllables. By the
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
period, every syllable, without exception, ended in a vowel. Such changes included: *
monophthongization Monophthongization is a sound change by which a diphthong becomes a monophthong, a type of vowel shift. It is also known as ungliding, as diphthongs are also known as gliding vowels. In languages that have undergone monophthongization, digrap ...
of diphthongs, * loss of word-final consonants (PSl *''vьlkъ'' < PBSl '' *wilkás'' < PIE ''*wĺ̥kʷos''), * simplification of some medial consonant clusters (OCS tonǫti < *topnǫti), and * formation of the nasal vowels *ǫ < *am/*an and *ę < *em/*en. The change discussed here is part of this process, and it involved the liquid consonants, grouped under the cover symbol ''R'', *l or *r in a coda position, in environments that are traditionally designated as in the table on the right. The application of the law of open syllables in such environments had different results in different Slavic dialects, and it is some of the earliest evidence for differentiation into the multitude of Slavic languages. In some, it is the metathesis of a sequence of liquid consonants followed by a vowel, and in others, it is an insertion of another vowel. In most cases, the effect was to eliminate the syllable-final consonants *l and *r so that the law of open syllables was maintained.


Reflexes in Slavic languages


oRT

Metathesis then occurred in all Slavic dialects. In South Slavic dialects (Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian) as well in Czech and Slovak, the metathesized vowel was lengthened as well. In East Slavic and the Lechitic branch of West Slavic, the outcome was dependent upon the
Proto-Slavic accent Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...
: in acuted syllables, the output was the same as in South Slavic and Czech-Slovak, but on circumflexed syllables, the metathesized vowel did not lengthen. : ''PSl.'' = Proto-Slavic proper, the stage before both the loss of distinctive vowel length and the change *a > *o : ''CS'' = Common Slavic, Late Proto-Slavic, the last reconstructable ancestor of all Slavic languages Compare the following reflexes: If the syllable was not acuted, the metathesis in West and East Slavic occurred without the lengthening so EPSl. *a retains its short quantity and yields ; compare EPSl. *ȃlkъtь ‘elbow’ > Serbo-Croatian '' lȃkat'' but Czech ''
loket Loket (; ) is a town in Sokolov District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,100 inhabitants. The town is known for the Loket Castle, a 12th-century Gothic castle. The historic town centre is well preserved and is pr ...
''.


TeRT and ToRT

Word-medially, on the other hand, there were three primary outcomes: #In Czech, Slovak and South Slavic, the metathesis occurred with lengthening: Proto-Slavic (PS) CeRC CaRC > CRēC CRāC > Common Slavic (CS) CRěC CRaC. #In the rest of West Slavic, the metathesis occurred but without lengthening: PS CeRC CaRC > CReC CRaC > CS CReC CRoC. #In East Slavic, a vowel was inserted to break up the RC sequence (''pleophony''): PS CeRC CaRC > CeReC CaRaC > CS CeReC CoRoC. As a result of dialect-specific changes occurring before and after the cluster resolution (metathesis/pleophony), the outcomes in various languages are diverse and complex. For example, in North-West Lechitic (northern Kashubian, Slovincian, Pomeranian and Polabian) and East Slavic, *CalC and *CelC merged into *CalC prior to cluster resolution: *In Polish and Sorbian, the metathesis occurred without lengthening: Polish
brzeg Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on t ...
, mleko, groch, młot as opposed to OCS brěgъ, mlěko, Slovene gràh, OCS mlatъ. *In North-West Lechitic, *CalC and *CelC yielded ClŭC (Polabian glåvă ‘head’, å < ъ), *CerC > CreC (without lengthening, as in Polish) while in *CarC, ar becomes ŭr, just like word-initially under acute (Polabian råmą ‘arm’ < *rъmę < *armę), but it did not undergo the metathesis. Compare Polabian '' porsą'', Slovincian '' părsą'' and Kashubian ''
gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Białogard Białogard (; ; Pomeranian language, Pomeranian: ''Biôłogard'') is a historic town in Middle Pomerania, northwestern Poland, with 23,614 inhabitants as of December 2021. The capital of Białogard County in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Bi ...
) to OCS gradъ (note that unchanged ''ar'' in *gardŭ would have yielded ''or'' in Pomeranian). *In Czech and Slovak, word-medial metathesis occurred with lengthening just like in South Slavic: Czech mlat, hrách, Polish młot, groch with an /o/. *The East Slavic languages have pleophonic *CarC > CoroC, *CerC > CereC and *CalC/*CelC > ColoC: Russian górod, béreg, mólot, molokó.


TьRT and TъRT


Complete and incomplete metathesis

If the liquid metathesis is complete only if it occurred with the corresponding vowel lengthening, the metathesis occurred completely in South Slavic and partially in Slovak and in non-word-initial position in the whole Czecho-Slovak area. The complete metathesis has been operational in all Slavic languages for acuted syllables. For word-initial non-acuted syllables, there was no lengthening except in South Slavic and, partially, Slovak. As mentioned, the complete metathesis occurred in South Slavic, in Czech and Slovak and in Polish and Sorbian, without lengthening. In North-West Lechitic, the metathesis did not occur even for *CarC syllables. In East Slavic, pleophony yielded *CVRC > CVRVC. The reflex of *l in North-West Lechitic and East Slavic is always "hard".


First and second metathesis

Since the reflexes of acuted word-initial *''ar-'' and *''al-'' are the same in all Slavic dialects, they must have changed before the syllables ending with a liquid, which have different reflexes. One can thus distinguish the first and the second metathesis of liquids.


Dating

From Slavic evidence alone, the change cannot be dated precisely because no Slavic languages had yet committed to writing. However, words may have been documented from contemporary non-Slavic languages, and words may also have been borrowed into Slavic from other languages. That makes it possible to narrow down the time that the change occurred. The liquid metathesis occurred in the Common Slavic era. It took place after or was still productive until the end of the 8th century. The name of
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
, who died in 814, underwent the change: *
Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
''Karl''''Karl'' is not only a
proper noun A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity ('' Africa''; ''Jupiter''; '' Sarah''; ''Walmart'') as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...
but also a common noun and then means "adult male". It is a normalised form, based on the Old East Franconian dialect. The common noun is also attested as ''charal'' in Old
Upper German Upper German ( ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High German time, East F ...
, with an epenthetic vowel, for example in the Old Alemannic rendering of the
Rule of Saint Benedict The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' () is a book of precepts written in Latin by St. Benedict of Nursia (c. AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's Rule is summed up in the motto of th ...
. That may be the origin of the intrusive vowel in ''Carolus'', the Latinised version of the name, but the Slavic process seems to be unconnected.
> PSl. *karl′uThe rendering of OHG ''l'' as PSl. *''l′'' is regular; the reason is that PSl. plain *''l'' was
dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...
, while OHG ''l'' was a normal which was identified with the PSl. palatalised liquid *''l′''.
> Common Slavic *korl′ь > Russian koról′, Polish król, Slovak kráľ, Serbo-Croatian krȃlj On the other hand, the change had already been completed in the earliest
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
documents. That implies that the change was completed, at least in the dialects of Bulgaria and of Macedonia, in no later than the 9th century, when the documents were written. There are, however, some attested unmetathised words in OCS such as ал(ъ)дии, a doublet of the metathised ладии. There are also glosses of Slavic words in foreign-language sources. Earlier sources show no effect of liquid metathesis, such as when the late-8th-century Greek chronicler Theophanes the Confessor writes Slavic names as (Ardágastos) and (Dargamērós). Old Church Slavonic versions of the names, with the metathesis applied, would be '' Radogostъ'' and '' Dragoměrъ''. Liquid metathesis is also seen in various borrowings preserved in toponymics; Latin ''Arba'' > Serbo-Croatian '' Rȃb'', Latin ''Albōna'' > Serbo-Croatian '' Làbīn'', Latin ''Scardōna'' > Serbo-Croatian '' Skràdīn'' etc.


Interpretation

It has been suggestedMatasović 2008:150 that East Slavic preserved the actual state of affairs, that the vowel was inserted in Common Slavic and that it was only subsequently lost in all dialects except in East Slavic, preceding the liquid. The exact development would thus be in Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian as follows: * PSl. *bardā 'beard' > *Common Slavic *baradā (*boroda) > *baradā (*boroda) SCr. ''bráda'', Blg. ''bradá''.


See also

*
Proto-Slavic language Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * {{Slavic languages Proto-Slavic language Balto-Slavic sound laws Slavic phonological features