Motivation
An important tendency in Proto-Slavic that also operated throughout the Common Slavic period, and was the direct cause of the first palatalization, was so-called intrasyllabic synharmony. Such intrasyllabic synharmony was violated if a velar consonant found itself before a front (palatal) vowel, because a velar is articulated in the region of soft palate (velum), in the back part of the roof of the mouth, and front vowels, of course, in the front part of the mouth. This articulatory opposition is then resolved by adapting (assimilating) the articulation of the velar consonant to the front vowel, relocating it to the region of the front soft palate (palatum), i.e. it becomes palatalized.
This is a very common phenomenon in the phonetic history of languages. Velar palatalization before front vowels has also marked for example the evolution of almost all modern Romance languages.
Read more about this topic: Slavic First Palatalization
Famous quotes containing the word motivation:
“Self-determination has to mean that the leader is your individual gut, and heart, and mind or we’re talking about power, again, and its rather well-known impurities. Who is really going to care whether you live or die and who is going to know the most intimate motivation for your laughter and your tears is the only person to be trusted to speak for you and to decide what you will or will not do.”
—June Jordan (b. 1939)