Lechitic ablaut

The Lechitic ablaut (przegłos lechicki in Polish) is a series of phonological changes to vowels and syllabic consonants which happened in the Lechitic languages around the 10th century. The essence of this process was a change of non-high front vowels into back vowels with palatalization of preceding consonants and depalatalization of syllabic consonants.

Note that the article uses the Slavic notation.

Sound changes

The ablaut happened before non-palatalized ("hard") dento-alveolar consonants, that is *n, *t, *d, *s, *z, *r.

The changes were as follows:

• *ě > *'a

  e.g. *květъ > *kv́at > kwiat (cf. Czech květ)

  *lěsъ > *las > las (cf. Czech les)

• *ę > *'ǫ

  e.g. *svętъ > *śv́ǫtoš́

  This change was later neutralized by changes in nasal vowels, so the above word ended up in Polish as święty. However, it can be observed in early texts, for example the Bull of Gniezno, where *ǫ was rendered as «an» and *ę as «en», e.g. "Zuantos" (from *śv́ǫtoš́), "Transouo", but "Myslentino", "Rendissouo".

• *ŕ̥ > r̥ > ar

  e.g. *mŕ̥tvъjь > *mr̥tvъjь > martwy

  *sŕ̥na > *sr̥na > sarna

• *ĺ̥ > l̥ > el

  e.g. *vĺ̥na > *vl̥na > wełna

• *e > *'o

  e.g. *berǫ > *b́orę > biorę (cf. Czech beru)

  *nesǫ > *ńosę > niosę (cf. Czech nesu)

  This change was the last one and, unlike the others, is only characteristic of Polish and not of other Lechitic dialects, cf. Kashubian bierzã.

Exceptions and other phenomena

There are many exceptions to the Lechitic ablaut, caused by different factors.

Complete lack of ablaut

In a few words, the ablaut did not happen despite favourable conditions for unknown reasons.

• *cěsaŕь > *cesař > cesarz
• *koběta > *kob́eta > kobieta

Apparent lack of ablaut

Some words in their modern form, for example bierny or kwietny, may seem as if the ablaut had not affected them. However, in their original form there was a front yer after the consonant which palatalized it and prevented the ablaut. The yer then disappeared.

• *b́erьnъjь > *b́erny > bierny
• *kv́ětьnъjь > *kv́etny > kwietny

Analogical change of ablauted forms

The ablaut happened, but the ablauted forms were later replaced due to the influence of the non-ablauted ones.

• *cěna > *cana > cena
• *krěslo > *křaslo > krzesło
• *č́esati > *č́osać > czesać
• *kresati > *křosać > krzesać

Analogical change of non-ablauted forms

In other cases, the non-ablauted forms were replaced due to the influence of the ablauted ones.

• *ž́eně > *ž́eńe > żonie (cf. żona)
• *sěńě > *śeńe > sianie (cf. siano)
• *vědŕě > *v́edře > wiadrze (cf. wiadro)

Both forms exist

There are a few cases in which both the ablauted and the non-ablauted forms exist and have different meanings.

• *běda > bieda ("poverty") and biada ("woe!")
• *dělo > dzieło ("a work, a piece") and działo (cannon)
• *čelo > na czole ("on the forehead") and na czele ("at the forefront")

Analogical change in verb conjugation

Several verbs which originally had -a- in the infinitive and other forms were altered to -e-.

• *ležati > leżeć, leżeli (cf. Russian лежать, лежали)
• *kričati > krzyczeć, krzyczeli (cf. Russian кричать, кричали)
• *mьlčati > milczeć, milczeli (cf. Russian молчать, молчали)

Those verbs were altered due to the association with verbs which originally did have -e- in the infinitive and other forms but were altered by the ablaut, for example * *viděti > widzieć, widzieli (-e- before a soft consonant), but widział (-a- before a hard consonant).

Compare:

• Proto-Slavic *viděti

original forms: widzieć, widzieli

altered form: widział

altered by the ablaut

• Proto-Slavic: *ležati

original form: leżał

altered forms: leżeć, leżeli

changed due to association with verbs like widzieć

Prepositions

*bez, *perdъ, *perz, like all prepositions, were always followed by other words, which could begin with a hard alveolar consonant or not, and so sometimes there were conditions that would allow the ablaut and sometimes there were not. Eventually, the non-ablauted forms - bez, przed, przez - prevailed.

Ablaut before other consonants

In some words, the ablaut happened before labial and velar consonants.

• macocha (cf. Russian мачеха)
• poziomka (cf. po ziemi)
• pożoga (cf. żec)
• wlokę, wlokł (cf. alternative conjugation wlekę, wlekł)

False ablaut

In some words, the vowel -e- coming from the soft yer *ь was altered to -o-. This change occurred independently of and after (see Chronology below) the Lechitic ablaut, but the effect is similar.

• *osьlъ > osieł > osioł
• *kozьlъ > kozieł > kozioł
• *dьnъkъ > dzionek (cf. *dьnь > dzień)
• *vьsъka > wieska > wioska (cf. *vьsь > wieś)

Chronology

Absolute chronology

The Lechitic ablaut is believed to have happened in the 9th, 10th and probably 11th century. The earliest piece of evidence comes from the Bavarian geographer, who recorded the name of the tribe Dziadoszanie (from *dědъ) as Dadosesani. The process was active in the 10th century, as evidenced by the words that was borrowed into Polish (usually through Czech) with the adoption of Christianity, for example Piotr ("Peter", ultimately from Latin petrus), anioł ("angel", from Latin angelus) or kościół ("church", from Latin castellum). Later evidence comes mainly from the Bull of Gniezno, where a number of proper names are noted, for example Białowąs, Białosza, Białowieżycy (cf. *běl-), Kwiatek (cf. *květъ) or Siostroch (cf. *sestr-). Moreover, all forms in the bull with the necessary conditions for the ablaut to happen are ablauted. This suggests that in the first half of the 12th century, when the bull was issued, the process was finished.

Relative chronology

The ablaut occurred after the -or-/-er-/-ol-/-el metathesis (*berza > bŕeza > bŕoza > brzoza) but before the yer vocalization (see History of Polish), because the vowel -e- coming from the soft yer normally did not undergo the change (*pьsъ > ṕes > pies).

Results

The Lechitic ablaut resulted in loss of the correlation between hard/soft consonants and front/back vowels. In Proto-Slavic, a soft consonant could only be followed by a front vowel (*e, *ę, *ě, *i, *ь), and a hard consonant - only by a back vowel (*o, *ǫ, *a, *y, *ъ). After the ablaut, the back vowels *o, *ǫ, *a could occur after both hard and soft consonants, and, as a consequence, palatalized consonants became phonemes.

The ablaut also resulted in vowel alternation e/o and e/a present and common in the language to this day (niesiesz - niosę, wieziesz - wiozę, pleść - plotka, sielski - sioło, zielnik - zioło, lesie - las, lecie - lato, świecie - świat, mieście - miasto, mierze - miarza, cieście - ciasto, etc.)

Bibliography

Długosz-Kurczabowa, Krystyna; Dubisz, Stanisław (2006). Gramatyka historyczna języka polskiego (Wyd. 3., poszerzone i zmienione ed.). Warszawa: Wydawn. Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. pp. 83–91. ISBN 9788323501183. Search this book on

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