In linguistics, Illich-Svitych's law refers to two
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 ...
rules, named after
Vladislav Illich-Svitych
Vladislav Markovich Illich-Svitych (, also transliterated as Illič-Svityč; 12 September 1934 – 22 August 1966) was a Soviet linguist and accentologist. He was a founding father of comparative Nostratic linguistics and the Moscow School o ...
who first identified and explained them.
Neuter ''o''-stems
Proto-Slavic neuter ''o''-stems with fixed accent on a non-acute root (accent paradigm b) become masculine, retaining the accent paradigm. Compare:
*
PIE
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), fruit preserves ( jam tart ...
''n'' >
OCS ''
dvorъ'' ''m''
* PIE *médʰu ''n'' 'mead' > PSl. *medu ''m'' (OCS ''medъ'')
This rule is important because it operated after the
influx of Proto-Germanic/Gothic thematic neuters, which all became masculines in Proto-Slavic. Late Proto-Germanic (after the operation of
Verner's law) had fixed accent on the first syllable. Compare:
*
PSl. *xlaiwu ''m'' 'pigsty' (OCS ''xlěvъ'' ) <
PGm. ''n''
* PSl. *xūsu/xūzu ''m'' 'house' (OCS ''xyzъ'') < PGm. ''n''
* PSl. *pulku ''m'' 'folk, people' (OCS '' plъkъ'') < PGm. ''n''
Masculine ''o''-stems
Proto-Slavic masculine ''o''-stems with fixed accent on a non-acute root (accent paradigm b) become mobile-accent (accent paradigm c). This change is also termed "Holzer's metatony", after linguist
Georg Holzer who described it.
Older literature suggests that this was not a Common Slavic innovation, and that there are exceptions in some Croatian
Čakavian
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic supradialect or language spoken by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmati ...
dialects of
Susak and
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
, which have retained the original accentuation. This has been recently disputed.
[Vermeer 2001]
Notes
References
*
* Willem Vermeer (2001). ''Critical observations on the modus operandi of the Moscow Accentological School'', Werner Lehfeldt, Einführung in die morphologische Konzeption der slavischen Akzentologie, 2d edition, München: Sagner, pp. 131–161.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Illic-Svityc's law
Balto-Slavic sound laws
Slavic phonological features