On shortening, lengthening, and accent shifts in Slavic

Abstract

The paper deals with several problems of Slavic historical accentology – pretonic length in the accentual paradigm c (and b) in South and West Slavic, the neo-circumflex phenomenon (including the accent in the genitive plural), the kȍkōt ‘rooster’ type lengthening in Čakavian, the ograda ‘fence’ type accent in Slavic, the reflex of Proto-Slavic *ò in Czech monosyllables (kůň ‘horse’ type words), as well as certain accent shifts (like the one in accentual paradigm b). The author criticizes the often untenable positions of Frederik Kortlandt on these issues, together with certain problematic aspects of his accentological modus operandi.

Keywords

• Slavic
• accentuation
• accent
• pretonic length
• neo-circumflex
• lengthening shortening