Common Slavic *-nǫ-, *-ny-, or *-nu-? A New Look at the History of the Slavic Nasal Suffix. The Diachronic Background and the Rise of the Common Slavic Variation

Abstract

In a previous study we showed that in some peripheral dialects of Common Slavic, the aorist/infinitive suffix of Class II verbs was *-nu-. In the present study, we focus on the diachronic explanation of the variation *-nǫ- ~ *-ny- ~ *-nu- in this suffix. We propose that its rise was facilitated by CSl phonological developments in final syllables, at the juncture of stem markers and the PIE endings: 2sg *-neh2-s# > CSl *-ny; 1sg *-new-m# > CSl *-nǫ; 3sg and word-internally *-new(-t#) > CSl *-nu(-). The resulting allomorphy could be leveled in different directions, whereby the causes traditionally invoked to explain *-nǫ- and *-ny- (perseverative nasalization, analogy to other verbal stems) played a role too.

Keywords

• Common Slavic
• Class II verbs
• nasal suffix
• Proto-Indo-European
• Auslautgesetze