History of Polish - Phonetic Processes

Phonetic Processes

• Addition of a voiced labiodental fricative before ą:

  ąglь > vąglь > węgiel (coal)

• Softening of consonants before front vowels i, ь, e, ę, ě:

  sę > siĄ > się (generic reflexive pronoun; self, oneself; myself, yourself, ourselves, yourselves, etc. also each other, one another)

  bělъjь > biały (white)

• Ablaut of vowels before hard coronal consonants e > o, ě > a Example:

  nesą > niosę but nesešь > niesiesz (you carry)

  bělъjь > biały but bělitъ > on bieli (/he/it is whitening)

  • The traces of the transition of ě into a in verbs after j, š, ž, č have disappeared

    slyšatь – slyšalъ – slyšalь > słyszeć, słyszał, słyszeli (to hear, he heard, they heard, compare with russ. слышать (słyszat´))

    wisětь – wisělъ – wisělь > wisieć, wisiał, wisieli (to hung, he hung, they hung)

    the only remnants are stojatь, bojatь> stojać, bojać (in dialects of Wielkopolska) - stać, bać (to stand, to be afraid))in the dialect of Małopolska and in the literary language

• The disappearance of weak yers and the change of strong yers into e:

  pьsъ > pies (dog) but pьsa > psa (of dog)

  sъnъ > sen (sleep)

• Formation of long vowels as a result of:
  • • contraction of two syllables into one (ojo-type groups) - synaeresis, for example: singular instrumental nogoją - nogą (with leg)
    • compensation for the loss of yers (compensatory lengthening)
    • preservation of the old length of intonation (by means of the new acute accent)
  • disappearance of long vowels:
    • length of i:, y:, u: disappeared without a trace in the early 16th century
    • length of a:, e:, o:, Ą: transformed into the constriction of these vowels in the early 16th century
    • o:> ó (constricted o), then merged with u
    • Proto-Slavonic ą and ę were mixed
      • around year 1000, there were 4 distinct nasal vowels: ę and ą both long and short
      • in the 12th century the pronunciation of ę and ą got closer to Ą (nasal a)
      • in the 13th and 14th century the only existing difference was in the vowel length, hence the common symbol ø
      • Ą> ę (an unusual process, in some dialects a has remained nasal), Ą:> Ą° (the constricted a has remained nasal, hence the spelling)> ą
    • the constricted a (the constricted a was being marked with an acute accent (å in the modern etymological spelling)) or the non-constricted a disappeared in the 18th century. In many dialects it corresponds to / o / (pon 'pan')(a man')
    • the constricted é in the 19th century was pronounced just like i or y ("daléj, daléj/niech się na powietrzu spali" – Adam Mickiewicz's Forefather's Eve) but eventually it has merged with non-constricted e.

  nesątъ > niosĄ: > niosą (they carry) but nesą > niosĄ > niosę (I carry)

  Bogъ > Bo:g > Bóg (god) but Boga > Boga > Boga (of god)

  kurъ > ku:r > kur (a cock)

• Development of sonorants

  X - any

  T - coronal

  T'- softened coronal

  W - labial

  K - velar

  Č - rustling, derived from palatalized velar sonorants

  • XrX, Xr´T > XarX, exception: Xr´T > X´arT, XrX > XurX, XorX

    krkъ > kark (neck)

    čr´nъjь > czarny (black)

    zr´no > ziarno (seed)

  • Xr´T´ > XirT´ > X´erT´

    vr´titi > wiercić (to drill)

  • Xr´K, W > XirzX > X´erzX, exception: XarX

    vr´xъ > wierzch (top)

    vr´ba > wierzba (willow)

    pr´xy > parchy, but pr´chnąti > pierzchnąć (to chap)

    • in general ir, irz > ´er, ´erz

      sěkyra > siekira > siekiera (axe)

  • TlX, Tl´X > TłuX

    dl´gъjь > długi (long)

    stlpъ > stłup > słup (pillar)

    • Tln, Tl´n > Tłun > Tłon

      slnьce > słuńce > słońce (sun)

  • W, KlX, Wl´T > XełX, sometimes WlX > WołX, WułX

    klbasa > kiełbasa (sausage)

    vl´na > wełna (wool)

    mlva > mołwa > mowa (speech)

    plkъ > pułk (rus. полк) (regiment)

  • Čl´X > ČełX > ČołX

    čl´no > czółno (canoe)

    žl´tъjь > żółty (yellow)

  • Wl´T´, W, K > Wl´X

    vl´kъ > wilk (wolf)

• Fourth palatalization ke, ky, ge, gy > kie, ki, gie, gi:

bogyni > bogini (goddess)

• Strengthening of softness: s', z ', t', d ', n'> ś, ź, ć, dź, ń. Example:

losь > łos´ > łoś (elk)

• Transition of softness

gostь > gost´ > gość (guest)

sъpi > spi > śpi (is asleep)

• Loss of softness
  • š, ž, č, dž, c´, dz´, r´ (> ř) and l´ (but not before i; hard l > ł) have lost their softness altogether:

    či > czy (if)

  • p´, b´, w´, f´, m´ have lost the softness that they had when at the end of a word or before a consonant:

    goląbь > gołĄ:b´ > gołąb (dove)

  • s', z ', t', d 'n' in some cases were losing their softness when before a hard consonant:

    kotьnъjь > kot´ny: > kotny

• Simplification of consonant clusters
  • kń > kś

    kъnędzь > kniĄ:dz > ksiądz (priest)

  • czs > cs > c, dźs > ćs > c, żs > szs > ss > s

    czso > co (what)

    lud – ludzki /lucki/ < ludźski (people - human)

    bogaty – bogactwo < bogaćstwo (rich - richness)

    Bóg – boski < bożski (God - divine)

    Włochy – włoski < włoszski (Italy - Italian)

    Ruś – ruski < rusьskъjь (Rus' - of or relating to Rus' )

  • śćc > jc, dźc > ćc > jc

    miejsce < mieśćce < městьce ('lace)

    ojca < oćca < otьca (father)

    rajca < radźca (councilmen)

  • źdźs > śćs > js

    Miasto – miejski < mieśćski (town)

    Ujazd – ujejski < ujeźdźski

    sześćset /szejset/ (six hundred)

  • sr´- > s´r´- > śrz- > śr-, analogically zr´- >źr- (in dialects of Wielkopolska and Ślask: strz-, zdrz-, in the dialect of Małopolska: rś-, rź-)

    sreda > środa (strzoda, rsioda) (Wednesday)

    zrěnica > źrenica (zdrzenica, rzienica) (pupil)

  • zgn, rgn, rgm > zn, rn, rm

    rozgniewać się > rozniewać się (Old Polish) (to become angry)

    burgmistrz (Germ. Bürgermeister) > burmistrz (town mayor)

  • rdc, zdn, łdn, cztw, stb, stł, stl > rc, zn, łn, czw, zb, sł, śl

    sr´dьce > sierdce > serce (heart)

    cztwarty > czwarty (fourth)

• ji>i (at least in spelling and while pronouncing clearly)

dojiti > doić (to milk)

jixъ > ich (their)

• l-vocalization

kolo > koło (initially with coronary-dental ł, nowadays /kouo/)

Word stress, initially moving, first was placed on the first syllable, to finally become penultimate.