Carnian: Difference between revisions

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[[Carnian]] (Carn. ''carnisc'' [[w:Help:IPA|[kɐɾˈnɪ̌s(k)]]], ''carniscky jenzik'') is a Slavic language spoken in the Central European state of [[Carnia]], which encompasses the historical regions of Carinthia, Upper and Inner Carniola, the Slovene Littoral, the Province of Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, Rijeka, and the islands of Cres and Krk. The language represents a unique evolutionary branch within the Slavic family, having developed from Northwestern Alpine Slavic (NWAS) under distinct historical and sociolinguistic conditions that differentiate it significantly from its South Slavic neighbors.

== Historical context ==

=== From Proto-Slavic to Old Carnian ===

Carnian evolved from Northwestern Alpine Slavic, a peripheral West Slavic variety that retained several archaic Proto-Slavic features not found in neighboring languages. These conservative elements include:

* Preservation of the open realization of *ě as [æ]

* Retention of *tl and *dl clusters

* Maintenance of the phonemic distinction between *i and *y

* Conservation of the prefix *vy-

The peripheral geographic position of NWAS within the Slavic dialectal continuum accounts for these retentions, as the variety remained relatively isolated from the innovations that characterized the South Slavic core area.

In the oRT sequences, the retention of liquid syllabicity did not trigger vowel lengthening in the preceding syllable. Lengthening occurred exclusively in syllables bearing acute accent, yielding RaT, while non-acute syllables developed RoT reflexes. This pattern parallels developments in North Slavic languages rather than the typical South Slavic treatment.

'''ToRT and TeRT Sequences'''

Parallel developments affected TьRT and TъRT sequences, which first became TR̥T before disintegrating into TəRT.

The distinctive character of Carnian liquid reflexes stems from the subsequent operation of posttonic syncope (see the section on [[#Vowel Reduction and Syncope|syncope]]), which eliminated many of the unstressed vowels directly following the accented syllable, yielding forms that superficially resemble the original Proto-Slavic sequences while differing in vowel quality and liquid syllabicity. Traces of the pleophonic stage remain visible in lexical items where posttonic vowels escaped elision, as in *''porxъ'' > Nom. ''paroch'', Gen. ''parcha''.

==== Yer Developments ====

Following Havlík's Law, weak yers underwent gradual elision while strong yers vocalized to full mid vowels. Carnian resembles neighboring South Slavic languages in frequent preservation of word-initial yers, similar to Slovene and Chakavian. The degree of initial yer retention varies between words, sometimes yielding doublets regionally (*''pъtica'' > ''petisa'' / ''petza'', ''tisa'').

Crucially, Carnian maintained the original front/back distinction among vocalized yers. Front yer *ь vocalized to ''ẹ'', subsequently breaking to ''ie'' (except following palatal consonants, where it remained ''e''). Back yer *ъ developed to ''ə'', with subsequent evolution varying by phonetic environment and geographic region. Common outcomes include merger with ''e'' or ''a'', though occasional merger with ''o'' also occurs.

Tense yer sequences *ьj and *ъj received special treatment with lexically conditioned outcomes. While some items follow regular vocalization patterns (*''kъjь'' > ''kei'' 'what'), others exhibit merger to ''ïj'' [ɪj] (modern ''y''), particularly in adjectival morphology. This development appears to result from j-induced assimilation combined with analogical leveling, with presumed intermediate stages *ьj > ''ẹj'' and *ъj > ''əj'' before phonemic merger.

This process preceded the general contraction of *VjV > V̄, which operated concurrently across the Carnian speech territory.

==== Nasal Vowel Developments ====

Proto-Slavic nasal vowels *ę and *ǫ were inherited in Carnian, with *ǫ undergoing early delabialization to ''ą''. Denasalization proceeded through decomposition to vowel + nasal consonant sequences ([Vm] or [Vn] depending on the following consonant environment). Word-final nasal vowels demonstrated greater stability, eventually denasalizing to long vowels that attracted stress (cf. Nom. ''noga'' vs. Acc. ''nogà'' < ''nogą'').

The chronology of denasalization can be established relative to other changes: it began before the loss of third-person plural *-tь (evidenced by modern -n in ''copan'' < *''copąt'' 'they kick'), and was completed by the Late Middle Ages, when only word-final nasal vowels received orthographic marking. The word-final denasalization process clearly postdates the establishment of the penultimate accent (see the section on [[#Penultimate and Ultimate Accent|penultimate accent]]).

==== i-y Merger ====

Unlike neighboring South Slavic languages, Carnian generally preserves *y as a distinct phoneme. However, two waves of partial merger with *i can be identified:

# '''Early merger''' (ca. 10th century): Limited to specific lexical items, commonly when *y followed coronal consonants (*ty > Old Carnian ''tī''). This development is documented in the Freising Manuscripts.

# '''Later merger''': Accent-conditioned merger occurring during the vowel reduction period (see the section on [[#Vowel Reduction and Syncope|vowel reduction]]).

Common Slavic *dz became ''z'' throughout the South Slavic area, followed in Carnian by deaffrication of *c to ''s''. This development may be attributed to the loss of the voiced counterpart *dz, leaving *c without a phonemic partner, unlike *č, which retained its voiced correlate.

Alternatively, this change may reflect a broader spirantization tendency particularly prominent in Carinthia. The spirantization *g > ''ɣ'' reached Carnian relatively early, though it never encompassed the entire speech territory. Later developments included *b > ''β'' and *d > ''ð''. Much of this spirantization was subsequently reversed due to sociolinguistic pressures, as spirantized forms acquired low-prestige associations.

* Regular /b, d, g/ with lenited /β, ð, ɣ/ intervocalically only

* Lenited /β, ð, ɣ/ in all positions (with allophones [ɸ, θ, x] in dialects with word-final devoicing)

Carnian participates in several innovations that developed across the broader Alpine Slavic area, shared with neighboring Slovene, Kajkavian, and Chakavian varieties:

* Absence of general palatalization before front vowels

* *ď > j in lexically restricted contexts, creating doublets (*meďu > ''mei'', ''medio'')

* Rhotacization *ž > ''r'' before vowels (*može da > ''morda''), extended beyond medial positions in Carnian, yielding doublets (*možete > ''mogiete'', ''morete''; *žena > ''giena'', ''rena'')

=== Old Carnian Period ===

This development is attributed to High German influence, spreading from northern regions that experienced intensive Germanization.

Accentual system restructuring destabilized the vowel inventory. Unstressed long vowels underwent shortening, along with the loss of phonemic contrast between the pairs i-y, e-ě, and o-u, leaving four contrasting vowel phonemes in unstressed syllables: ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', and ''o''. Due to the merger patterns, it can be inferred that reduced vowels shifted toward more mid-central positions than full vowels, just as they are pronounced in modern Carnian. Vowel reduction did not always affect diphthongs and nasal vowels, which maintained their full quality regardless of accent.

Unstressed vowels became susceptible to elision in posttonic syllables, occurring most frequently after sonorants and fricatives, though other environments are also documented (*''jeden'' > ''jen''). High vowels showed greatest susceptibility to elision, followed by mid vowels, with low vowels demonstrating greatest resistance.

During the transition to vowel loss, a transitional vowel ''ə̆'' often appeared as an intermediate stage. Its ambiguous phonetic quality never received systematic orthographic representation, leading to variant spellings (''malina'' ~ ''malna''), where words retained historical vowel letters or omitted the vowel entirely. This transitional vowel disappeared by the 18th century.

# '''Cluster reduction''': Through consonant elision, assimilation, or lenition

The choice between strategies correlated with morphological factors: clusters in morphologically central forms (e.g., nominative singular) showed greater resistance to reduction when other paradigmatic forms permitted cluster maintenance (Nom. *''ogňь'' > ''ogəň'' vs. Gen. *''ogňa'' > ''ogəňa'' instead of expected ''oňňa''). Sometimes the oblique forms prevailed, leading to epenthetic vowel elision, especially in suffixes where new clusters were permitted (Gen. *''synъka'' > ''sœnca'', Nom. *''synъkъ'' > ''sœnəc'' > ''sœnc'').

Cluster simplification operated according to sonority and articulatory constraints. Assimilation occurred most commonly when a stop was followed by a nasal or lateral consonant (''tn'', ''dn'', ''kn'', ''gn'' > ''nn''; ''dl'', ''gl'' > ll) and in sibilant + affricate sequences (''šč'' > ''šš'', ''ždž'' > ''žž''). Labial and voiced stops often escaped simplification processes.

 

 

==== Geminate Consonant Development ====

 

 

 

Modern Carnian preserves the following native geminate set: /mm, nn, pp, tt, kk, t͡s:, t͡ʃ:, ss, ʃʃ, ll/. All geminates function as syllable boundaries, with the first element closing the preceding syllable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During Late Old Carnian, ''u'' fronted to a position between [ɵ̝] and [ʊ], preserved in modern Carnian. Following labial and velar consonants, this process was disrupted through epenthetic ''u̯'' insertion, with subsequent delabialization and fronting of the vowel, yielding ''u̯i''. This development reflects the incompatibility between consonant articulation (labial rounding, velar backing) and vowel fronting.

==== High Vowel Diphthong Dissimilation ====

The unstable Old Carnian high vowel system underwent systematic restructuring through diphthong dissimilation. When diphthongs contained ''i̯'' or ''u̯'' as the less prominent element, the nuclear vowel lowered: ''ïi̯'' > ''ei̯'', ''iu̯'' > ''eu̯'', ''i̯u'' > ''i̯o'', ''u̯i'' > ''u̯e'', ''ui̯'' > ''oi̯'', ''i̯i'' > ''i̯e''. This accounts for ''u̯e'' reflexes of ''u'' following labials and velars (*''buřa'' > ''buera''), ''eu̯'' in i-stem verb participles (''prosit'', ''proseu''), and ''ei̯'' from tense yers and ī-breaking. The latter phoneme shows considerable regional variation, from standard [ɛɪ̯] to local realizations ranging [ɪi̯] ~ [äɪ̯].

Proto-Slavic *y survived as a distinct phoneme except in documented merger contexts (see the sections on [[#i-y Merger|i-y Merger]] and [[#Vowel Reduction and Syncope|vowel reduction]]). Over time it lowered to /ɜ/, as preserved in modern Carnian. This lowering postdated vowel reduction (where *y merged with *i into ''ï'') but preceded high vowel diphthong dissimilation (where *yu̯ regularly yields ''œu̯'').

* *y in the Carnian speech territory retained some degree of rounding

* During lowering, *y achieved a more advanced pronunciation [ɘ̟], sharing place of articulation with High German ''ö'', potentially influencing rounding development. This hypothesis can be supported by the Carinthian dialect, which experienced the highest degree of Germanization, realizing ''œ'' as a front rounded vowel [œ].

==== Penultimate and Ultimate Accent ====

The transition from Old to Modern Carnian witnessed another major accent shift toward penultimate syllables, originating in coastal dialects around the 16th century and spreading northward. This development likely reflects Romance influence, particularly the penultimate stress preference prevalent in regional Romance varieties. While now considered standard, northernmost dialects, especially those in Alpine valleys, retain stem-initial accent.

The stress-length correlation remained operative during this shift: newly stressed open syllables underwent lengthening, while previously long syllables losing stress were shortened.

The unstressable ''ə̆'' blocked penultimate shift when occurring in that position. Several later developments created ultimate accent exceptions:

* Final vowel loss (visible in infinitives: *-ti > -''t'')

* Word-final nasal vowel denasalization with lengthening and stress attraction

==== Ł-L Merger ====

The original ''l'' / ''ł'' contrast was eliminated through merger to a single phoneme [l]. Velarized realization was preserved in syllable codas and extended to previously plain *l through merger (*''solь'' > ''sol'' [sɔl] > [soɫ]).

Some dialects exhibit ''ṡuapanie'', where velarized ''ł'' is realized as ''u̯''. These dialects vary in whether the original contrast is preserved (''sol'' vs. ''stou̯'') or lost (''sou̯'', ''stou̯'').

==== Postalveolar Consonant Developments ====

While Carnian generally preserves postalveolar ''ċ'', ''ġ'', ''ṡ'', leveling occurred in specific environments:

 

* ''ċ'' lenited to ''ṡ'' in clusters and word-finally (*''covaċ'' > ''covaṡ'' 'smith'), with analogical extension (Gen. ''covaṡa'')

* Assimilation to alveolar counterparts in clusters containing alveolar consonants (*''ṡtœri'' > ''stœri'' 'four'), primarily affecting ''ṡ'' and ''ġ'' as ''ċ'' had been eliminated from most clusters

* Preserved Proto-Slavic ''kv''-, ''gv''- before old Slavic ''ě'' (''cueat'' 'flower' vs. Slovene ''cvet'')

* ''kei'' 'what' pronoun, shared with Slovene and Kajkavian, locally also ''cie'' / ''cia'' (shared with Chakavian)

== Phonology ==

Carnian has six vowel phonemes. Length is not phonemic, but all stressed vowels in open syllables are long [Vː]. When unstressed, all vowels are somewhat reduced toward mid-central positions.

|+ '''Vowel phonemes of Standard Carnian'''

* /ɛ/ is an open-mid front vowel [ɛ]. When preceded by /j/ it may be raised to mid [e̞]. In unstressed syllables, it is somewhat centralized [ɛ̈]

* /ɜ/ is an open-mid central vowel with considerable lip rounding [ɜ̜] and slightly advanced pronunciation. Alternatively, it may be described as retracted [œ̠]. Lip rounding is lost in unstressed syllables where it is central unrounded [ɜ]

* /ɔ/ is an open-mid back vowel [ɔ]. When preceded by /j/ it may be raised to mid [o̞]. In stressed closed syllables it is near-open [ɒ̝]. In unstressed syllables it is centralized [ɞ]

One of the main characteristics of Carnian is a centering diphthong ''ea'' [ɛɐ̯], which typically becomes a monophthong in closed syllables or when adjacent to a semivowel, with pronunciation ranging from [æ] to [ɛ].

=== Consonants ===

|+ Consonant phonemes of Standard Carnian

! colspan=2|

! [[w:Labial consonant|Labial]]

! [[w:Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br />[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]

! [[w:Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]

! [[w:Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]

!colspan=2| [[w:Nasal consonant|Nasal]]

| [[w:Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]

| [[w:Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar nasals|n]]

!rowspan=2| [[w:Stop consonant|Plosive]]

! {{small|[[w:voicelessness|voiceless]]}}

| [[w:Voiceless bilabial plosive|p]]

| [[w:Voiceless dental plosive|t]]

|

| [[w:Voiceless velar plosive|k]]

! {{small|[[w:voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}

| [[w:Voiced bilabial plosive|b]]

| [[w:Voiced dental plosive|d]]

| [[w:Voiced velar plosive|ɡ]]

!colspan=2| [[w:Affricate|Affricate]]

|  

| [[w:Voiceless alveolar affricate|ts]]

| [[w:Voiceless postalveolar affricate|tʃ]]

|  

! {{small|[[w:voicelessness|voiceless]]}}

| [[w:Voiceless labiodental fricative|f]]

| [[w:Voiceless alveolar fricative|s]]

| [[w:Voiceless velar fricative|x]]

! {{small|[[w:voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}

| rowspan=2| [[w:Voiced labiodental approximant|ʋ]]

| [[w:Voiced alveolar fricative|z]]

| [[w:Voiced postalveolar fricative|ʒ]]

!colspan=2| [[w:Approximant consonant|Approximant]]

| [[w:Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants|l]]

|

| [[w:Voiced palatal approximant|j]]

!colspan=2| [[w: Tap and flap consonants|Flap]]

|

| [[w:Voiced dental and alveolar taps and flaps|ɾ]]

* /n/ has an allophone [ŋ] before velar consonants. Many dialects also tend to realize /nj/ clusters as palatal [ɲ]

* /x/ is usually glottal [h] word-initially

* /l/ is alveolar in most positions with a velarized allophone [ɫ] when in coda

* /ɾ/ is a flap, although some speakers may realize it slightly like an approximant. In coda, especially in urban dialects, it is often vocalized to [ə̯], forming a diphthong, or elided with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel

Carnian has, with some exceptions, fixed stress on the penultimate syllable. Stressed vowels in open syllables are long [Vː], while in closed syllables they are short, and in some cases somewhat lax. Vowels in word-final stressed open syllables are shorter than in penultimate syllables and are most often described as half-long [Vˑ].

Ultimate accent is an exception to the fixed pattern, although its occurrence is predictable:

* In words which lost their final vowel, such as all infinitives (''prosit'' [pɾɞˈsɪt] 'to ask')

* In predicative forms, by analogy with non-predicative (''prosien'' [pɾɞˈʃɛn] vs. ''prosiena'' [pɾɞˈʃɛːnɐ] 'asked')

* In words which used to have word-final nasal vowel, in this case always marked in spelling (''jannè'' [jɐnˈnɛˑ] 'lamb')

In addition, Carnian has pitch accent, with two pitch contours: rising and falling. In non-final syllables, pitch contour is carried over to the following syllable in the opposite manner. For example, falling pitch on the penultimate stressed syllable is followed by a slight rise of intonation on the ultimate, unstressed syllable.

Pitch contours are distinctive only in polysyllabic words and only on long vowels as well as in those closed syllables which have a sonorant in coda. Otherwise syllables carry a neutral tone.

 

Not all dialects exhibit the same accentual patterns as Standard Carnian. Particularly northern dialects of Carinthia and Upper Carniola retain Old Carnian stem-initial stress. Small transitional dialects on the borderlands with Slovenia and Croatia tend to have a free and mobile accent.

 

 

 

 

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