Illic-Svityc's law
Encyclopedia
In linguistics, Illič-Svityč's law refers to two Proto-Slavic
rules, named after Russian Slavist Vladislav Illich-Svitych
who first identified and explained them.
Firstly, Illič-Svityč's law refers to the rule according to which Proto-Slavic thematic
neuters accented on the first syllable become masculines. Compare:
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:
Secondly, Illič-Svityč's law refers to the rule according to which all masculine o-stems in Proto-Slavic generalized accentual mobility (accent paradigm 'c', as opposed to expected accent paradigm 'b').
Older literature suggestes that this was not a Common Slavic innovation, and that there are exceptions in some Croatian Čakavian dialects of Susak
and Istria
, which have retained the original accentuation. This has been recently disputed.
Proto-Slavic language
Proto-Slavic is the proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged. It was spoken before the seventh century AD. As with most other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; the language has been reconstructed by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic...
rules, named after Russian Slavist Vladislav Illich-Svitych
Vladislav Illich-Svitych
Vladislav Markovich Illich-Svitych was a Russian linguist and accentologist, also a founding father of comparative Nostratic linguistics.Of Ukrainian descent, he was born in Kiev but later moved to work in Moscow. He resuscitated the long-forgotten Nostratic hypothesis, originally expounded by...
who first identified and explained them.
Firstly, Illič-Svityč's law refers to the rule according to which Proto-Slavic thematic
Vowel stems
In Indo-European linguistics, a thematic stem or vowel stem is a noun or verb stem that ends in a vowel that appears in or otherwise influences the noun or verb's inflectional paradigm. The vowel is called the thematic vowel...
neuters accented on the first syllable become masculines. Compare:
- PIEProto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
n > OCSOld Church SlavonicOld Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
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
Verner's law
Verner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875, describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *f, *þ, *s, *h, *hʷ, when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, underwent voicing and became respectively the fricatives *b, *d, *z,...
) had fixed accent on the first syllable. Compare:
- PSl.Proto-Slavic languageProto-Slavic is the proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged. It was spoken before the seventh century AD. As with most other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; the language has been reconstructed by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic...
*xlaiwu m 'pigsty' (OCS xlěvъ ) < PGm.Proto-Germanic languageProto-Germanic , or Common Germanic, as it is sometimes known, is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all the Germanic languages, such as modern English, Frisian, Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Luxembourgish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish.The Proto-Germanic language is...
*hlaiwan n - PSl. *xūsu/xūzu m 'house' (OCS xyzъ) < PGm. *hūsan n
- PSl. *pulku m 'folk, people' (OCS plъkъ) < PGm. *fulkan n
Secondly, Illič-Svityč's law refers to the rule according to which all masculine o-stems in Proto-Slavic generalized accentual mobility (accent paradigm 'c', as opposed to expected accent paradigm 'b').
Older literature suggestes that this was not a Common Slavic innovation, and that there are exceptions in some Croatian Čakavian dialects of Susak
Susak
Susak is a small island on the northern Adriatic coast of Croatia. The name Sansego comes from the Greek word Sansegus meaning oregano which grows in abundance on the island. A small percentage of natives still reside on the island which has increasingly become a popular tourist...
and Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
, which have retained the original accentuation. This has been recently disputed.