K splynutí A a O v praslovanštině
On the Merger of Proto-Slavic a and o

Summary/Abstract: Although the merger of a, o and ā, ō in the Proto-Slavic period is unquestionable, the time of the change and the phonetic value of the new sounds is not so self-evident. The traditional solution is that the merger took place as early as the Balto-Slavic or Early Proto-Slavic period and phonetically was – particularly in the short variant – a compromise between o and a (graphically sometimes interpreted as å) which was closer to a as corroborated by later Finnish loans like akkuna, kaputta, and only in the last phase of Proto-Slavic was its short variant rounded to pure o. What is usually ignored is the fact that the development in a number of grammatical endings points to the change of the original o, ō (and perhaps even ā) to u, ū which must have been in the stage when the vowel was still closer to o. Moreover, the explanation of the development of the Proto-Slavic vowel system is easier if we accept that the delabialization of o, ō > a, ā took place much later. This can be interpreted in two ways: either the merger of o and a to a (å) took place much later than usually expected, or the merger first resulted in vowels closer to o and only later, at the beginning of the classical period, it was delabialized to sounds closer to a.

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