Rising Sonority Tendency

The rising sonority tendency is a linguistic phenomenon in the history of Slavic languages at the time of the Proto-Slavic language.

It includes multiple sound processes, each of whose result is the production of an increased sonority within the syllable. Syllabic vowels have the highest sonority among the sounds of human languages, then the nonsyllabic vowels, then the sounds m, n, l, and r, then the voiced consonants, and finally the unvoiced consonants. The processes of the rising sonority tendency played a great role in the development of the Slavic languages from Proto-Indo-European.

The sub-processes of the rising sonority tendency

Loss of syllable- and word-final consonants

Consonants that are at the end of a syllable and thus ensure a falling sonority disappear.

Example: ka-mens > ka-me (> ka-mo > ka-my); cf. Old Church Slavonic kamy

Prothesis

Syllables that have a uniform sonority because they consist of only one vowel achieve a higher sonority by getting prefixed by a consonantal i (= j) or u (= v).

Example: y-dra > vy-dra; cf. Russian vydra

Consonant Grouping

Because the different consonants have a different measure of sonority, consonant groups by themselves can already have a falling sonority. Such consonant groups are combined in the context of the rising sonority tendency.

Example: op-sa > o-psa > o-sa; cf. Russian. osa

Formation of nasal vowels

Vowels followed by an m or n become nasal, and the m or n is lost. The vowels e, ě, i, and ь become ę, and the vowels a, o, y, and ъ become ǫ.

Example: na-č'ьn-ti > na-čę-ti; cf. Russian. načat'

As the example shows, the nasal vowels develop further and are not retained in the Slavic languages of today (Polish nasal vowels developed later).

Monophthongization

Indoeuropean diphthongs are replaced by one vowel. Because the second vowel is not syllabic, diphthongs have a falling sonority that is eliminated through monophthongization.

Example: poi-ti > pě-ti; cf. Russian. pet'

Liquid placement

In the configuration consonant – o or e – r or l – consonant, the liquid (i.e., r or l) changes position with the previous vowel.

Example: gor-dъ > gro-dъ

These structures developed differently in the formation of various Slavic languages. In East Slavic languages, the following change occurred: gor-dъ > gro-dъ> go-ro-dъ (cf. Russian gorod), in West Slavic languages (except for Czech): gor-dъ > gro-dъ (cf. Polish gród), in South Slavic languages (and Czech): gor-dъ > gro-dъ > gra-dъ (cf. Serbian Beograd, Czech. hrad).

Changing of syllable boundaries

By changing syllable boundaries, a consonant at the end of a syllable is shifted to the following syllable.

Sources

Rainer Eckert, Emilia Crome, Christa Fleckenstein: Geschichte der russischen Sprache. Verlag Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1983, S. 55–69.

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