Early East Slavic Dialect Differentiation: Perspectives and Chronology

Presented October 2006 at the 4th Graduate Colloquium of Slavic Linguistics, The Ohio State University

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The analysis of the data found in the Novgorod birch bark letters has spurred a re-examination of the history of early dialect differentiation within East Slavic, largely due to the relatively great amount of seemingly archaic and/or anomalous features found in these sources (Ivanov 1985, Birnbaum 1991, Vermeer 1991, Zaliznjak 1991, Krys’ko 1998) . Of particular interest to researchers has been the question of whether or not the second regressive palatalization of velars took place in the north Russian dialect of early East Slavic (Živov 1984, Birnbaum 1991, Vermeer 2000). However, this question has rarely been discussed with reference to the other isoglosses separating the north Russian dialect of early East Slavic from the rest of early East Slavic. The term "north Russian dialect" primarily designates the old Novgorod and Pskov dialects. Contemporary dialectal data will be denoted separately.

This presentation will focus on the abovementioned isoglosses, with particular emphasis on the second regressive and progressive palatalizations of velars, the development of *tort groups, cokan’e (the non-differentiation between /c/ and /č/), šokan’e (the non-differentiation between /š/ ~ /s’/ and /ž/ ~ /z’/ respectively), the development of *-tl- and *-dl- clusters, and the development of the masculine nominative singular ending –e in o-stem paradigms (Zaliznjak 1995: 35-47, 82-84). Each of these isoglosses will be examined, and an analysis will be presented of the relative chronology of each of these isoglosses. Despite the fact that some isoglosses may be dated – and, in general, explained - much more securely than others, it will be shown that the examination of these isoglosses can shed light on a general chronology of what may be termed the differential development of the north Russian dialect compared to the rest of East Slavic.

The consequences of these findings for the history of East Slavic will then be explored. In particular, it will be argued that the conclusions made possible by such an analysis of the development of the north Russian dialect strongly confirm the conclusions drawn in Krys’ko 1998 about early dialectal differentiations in East Slavic. The resulting model of early East Slavic may be summarized as follows: first, a stage in which there existed a continuum of closely related, although dialectally differentiated speech communities, and second, a stage in which convergence factors led to a more united East Slavic. In connection with this, Krys’ko proposes replacing the term “proto-East Slavic” with the term “common East Slavic” (Krys’ko 1998: 374). It will be argued that this terminological distinction facilitates a more accurate understanding of the historical development of East Slavic.

References

Birnbaum, Henrik. 1991. "Reflections on the Language of Medieval Novgorod." Russian Linguistics 15: 195 – 215.

Ivanov, Vjacheslav V. 1985. "Otraženie indoevropejskogo casus indefinitus v drevnenovgorodskom dialekte." Russian Linguistics 9: 327 – 334.

Krys’ko, V. B. 1998. "Drevnij novgorodsko-pskovskij dialekt na obščeslavjanskom fone." In Trubačev, O, N. ed. Slavjanskoe jazykoznanie: XII mezhdunarodnyj s"ezd slavistov, Krakov. Moskva: Nauka: 367-380.

Vermeer, Willem. 1991. "The Mysterious North Russian Nominative Singular Ending –e and the Problem of the Reflex of Indo-European *-os in Slavic." Die Welt der Slaven 36: 271 – 295.

Vermeer, Willem. 2000. "On the status of the earliest Russian isogloss: four untenable and three questionable reasons for separating the progressive and the second regressive palatalization of Common Slavic." Russian Linguistics, 24: 5 – 29.

Zaliznjak, Andrej A. 1991. "Berestjanye gramoty pered licom tradicionnyx postulatov slavistiki i vice versa." Russian Linguistics 15: 217 – 245.

Zaliznjak, Andrej A. 1995. Drevnenovgorodskij dialekt. Moskva: Škola "jazyki russkoj kul’tury."

Živov, V. 1984. "Pravila i proiznošenie v russkom cerkovnoslavjanskom pravopisanii XI XIII veka." Russian Linguistics 8, 251-293.