From Proto-Indo-European To Slavic.pdf

FROM PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN TO SLAVIC
Frederik Kortlandt
A correct evaluation of the Slavic evidence for the reconstruction of the Indo-
European proto-language requires an extensive knowledge of a considerable body
of data. While the segmental features of the Slavic material are generally of cor-
roborative value only, the prosodic evidence is crucial for the reconstruction of
PIE. phonology. Due to plicated nature of Slavic historical accentology,
this e to be realized quite As a result, much of the earlier litera-
ture has e obsolete to the extent that it is based upon an interpretation
which does not take the multifarious accentual developments into account. I shall
give one example.
In Evidence for laryngeals (ed. by W. Winter, 1965), which remains a mile-
stone in Indo-European studies, two of the authors adduce the short accent of SCr.
sȑce ‘heart’ as evidence for a Proto-Slavic acute tone (117, 133). Actually, Slavic
*sьrdьce has a falling tone and mobile accentuation, as is clear from the Slovene
and Russian evidence. The circumflex was regularly shortened in trisyllabic word
forms (see below), . mlȁdōst ‘youth’, cf. mlȃd ‘young’, and prȃse ‘sucking-
pig’, . prȁseta. This does not detract from the fact that we have to recon-
struct an acute tone for Balto-Slavic in view of Latvian sir̂ds ‘heart’. In Slavic, the
acute tone became circumflex in words with mobile stress in accordance with
Meillet’s law (see below). The tone of trisyllabic neuters can never be used for
comparative purposes because they always have mobile accentuation if they be-
long to the older layers of the language. The Balto-Slavic acute tone in the word
for ‘heart’ is no evidence for either a laryngeal or a PIE. long vowel because it
arose ically before PIE. *d in accordance with Winter’s law (see be-
low). The only evidence for an original long vowel is found in Old Prussian seyr,
which bination with the East Balt