On the reconstruction of contrastive secondary palatalization in Common Slavic

Abstract

Contrastive secondary palatalization is a feature typically associated with Slavic. However, this contrast is present only in some contemporary Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian, Eastern Bulgarian, Russian, and Upper and Lower Sorbian. Thus, a question arises as to whether the secondary palatalization contrast represents a Common Slavic inheritance, and how it should be reconstructed. Providing such a reconstruction is important for the field of Slavic historical phonology, as well as for the general understanding of the development of consonant inventories with palatal consonants and the development of secondary palatalization contrasts in the world’s languages. By considering several historical scenarios, we show that /r/ : /rj/ is the only secondary palatalization contrast that can be reconstructed to a pre-stage common to all of Slavic. While pursuing the reconstruction, we use supporting evidence from the typology of sound change and the typology of consonantal inventories in the world’s languages, as well as relative chronology.