Lenition in Common Slavic

Abstract

Three different reflexes of Proto-Slavic *g and the reflex of *di̭ changed to fricatives in early Slavic. A hitherto unnoticed sequential constraint in Common Slavic, along with the geographical limitations of these changes, permits us to date them relative to the loss of syllable-final obstruents in CS1., to the fall of the jers, and to one another. Typological analysis shows that the source of the phonetic changes was a pronunciation rule implying phonemically tense vs. lax obstruents in CS1. The relative chronology established is significant for several problems of chronology within Slavic and for its relation to Baltic; and the set of concentric isoglosses defined throws light on the pattern of expansion of early Slavic.

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