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PHONETIC FEATURES OF THE OLD SLAVONIC LANGUAGE: SOUND
SYSTEM AND ITS STRUCTURE
Ermamatova Odinakhon Shamshiddin kizi
1st year student of the Faculty of Philology,
Isayeva Zera Tairovna
Scientific supervisor:
Fergana State University Fergana, Uzbekistan
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15260976
Abstract.
This article examines the main phonetic features of the Old
Church Slavonic language, one of the oldest Slavic written languages. Particular
attention is paid to the sound system, phoneme distribution, and typical
phonetic processes such as palatalization, vowel reduction, and digraphic
features. Vowel and consonant phonemes, their classification, and functions in
the sound structure of the language are analyzed.
Keywords:
Old Church Slavonic, phonetics, sound system, phonemes,
reduction, palatalization, assimilation, metathesis, iotation, vowels, consonants,
historical linguistics.
Old Church Slavonic is the first literary language of the Slavs, codified by
Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. Its phonetic system is of interest both for
historical linguistics and for comparative analysis with modern Slavic languages.
Slavic written monuments of ancient times can be divided into two groups:
Glagolitic and Cyrillic. In the course of research into the origin of monuments, it
was established that Glagolitic written monuments belong to earlier periods of
the life of the Slavs, and Cyrillic ones to later ones.
In the orthography of the written monuments of the ancient Slavs, one can
also find a reflection of the phonetics used in the ancient Slavic speech. The
sound system of the Old Church Slavonic language is divided into vowel and
consonant phonemes. Unlike modern Slavic languages, in Old Church Slavonic
there are nasal vowels and the opposition of hard and soft consonants.
The phonetic system of Old Church Slavonic can be divided into the
following categories:
• the system of vowel sounds;
• the system of consonant sounds;
• the structure of the Old Church Slavonic syllable.
The original phonetic system of Old Church Slavonic numbered 11
phonemes (or 13, if we consider /ü/ and /ǫ̈/ as independent phonemes). (See
Table 1, where the disputed phonemes are given in brackets.)
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The number of vowel phonemes in Old Church Slavonic coincided with their
number in late Proto-Slavic on the eve of the creation of the Slavic written
language.
Table 1
The system of vowel phonemes of the Old Church Slavonic language
Rise
Front row
Non-front row
Upper
(ü)
i
у
u
Upper Middle
(ǫ̈)
ь
ъ
Middle lower
ę e
о
ǫ
Lower
—
ě
а
—
Labialized
Non-labialized
Labialized
Vowels were classified:
by place of formation: front vowels (и, е, ь, h) and non-front vowels (а, о,
оу, ы, ъ);
by participation of the lips: labialized vowels (о, оу) and non-labialized (all
the rest);
by completeness of education: vowels of incomplete formation (ь, ъ) and
full-formation vowels (all others);
by purity of sound: nasal vowels and pure vowels (all others);
by length of sound: short vowels (о, е), super short vowels (ъ, ь) and long
vowels (all the rest).
Two vowel sounds – [ы] и [у] – were designated by two letters: [ы] - ъi; [у]
- оу. This spelling was called a ligature.
Reduced vowels in the phonetic system of the Old Church Slavonic language
occupied a separate position and were often contrasted with other vowel
sounds. The reason for such a contrast is the duration of their sound. The
pronunciation of reduced vowels directly depended on their position in the
word; they could be long or short. In cases where the reduced vowels [ь] and [ъ]
were pronounced less clearly, such a position was considered weak, and,
accordingly, when they were pronounced clearly, they acquired a strong
position. The strong position of reduced vowels was observed in cases where
they were:
• in a stressed position;
• before a syllable with a reduced sound in a weak position;
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• in monosyllabic words (pronouns, conjunctions, etc.);
• in a position with a combination of smooth sonorants.
A weak position was observed in cases where:
• the sound was at the end of a word;
• the sound was in a position before a syllable with a reduced sound in a
strong position;
• in a position before a syllable containing a full vowel.
Examples include the words: «дѣдъ» in phonetic analysis it looks like
[дѣ.дъ] and corresponds to the modern «дед». In the genitive case it becomes
«дѣда», with transcription [д’ѣ.да], which corresponds to modern «деда».
In the vowel system of the Old Church Slavonic language, special attention
is required for the combination of reduced vowels with smooth vowel sounds.
When pronouncing words containing such a combination, one can trace the
principles of rising sonority and openness of the syllable, as well as the influence
of the special syllabicity of the smooth sonorant sound. Over time, reduced
vowels lost their influence on the pronunciation of words, but remained in the
composition of words until 1918.
Palatalization is the process of softening hard consonants under the
influence of subsequent front vowels (е, и, ѧ, ѩ, ѥ) or sound й. In Old Church
Slavonic, this process was very important, as it led to the formation of new
phonemes and word forms. The consonant is pronounced closer to the hard
palate, acquiring "softness". In transcription, this is indicated by an apostrophe
(ʼ), for example: д → дʼ, т → тʼ.
Assimilation is a phonetic process in which one sound becomes similar to
its neighbor in some way: softness, sonority, voicelessness, place or method of
formation. In Old Church Slavonic, assimilation played an important role in the
pronunciation and development of word forms. Types of assimilation:
1. By voicedness/voicelessness Voiced consonants were voiceless before
voiceless ones, and vice versa. Example: отьдати → [од’дати] → modern отдать
(т → д — similarity in sonority)
2. By softness Hard consonants became soft next to soft ones.
Example: пьсъ → [п’с] → modern пёс
3. By place of formation One sound is similar to another in the way and
place of pronunciation. Example: сжечь → [ж’ж’эч’] — double assimilation (с →
ж by place and sonority)
Directions of assimilation:
Progressive - the previous sound influences the next
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Rarely found in Slavic
Regressive - the next sound influences the previous
Typical for Old Church Slavonic
Reciprocal (contact) - both sounds influence each other
Metathesis is a phonetic phenomenon in which sounds or syllables within a
word are rearranged. In Old Church Slavonic, metathesis most often affected
combinations of a consonant with «р» or «л» and reduced vowels (ъ, ь),
especially at the beginning of a syllable.
Typical case: permutation «ръ/рь» and «лъ/ль»
In combinations of the type Crъ or Clъ reduced vowel and sonorant sound
(р, л) could be swapped.
After metathesis, a more easily pronounceable syllable was formed, with a
vowel before the sonorant.
Iotation (Йотация) — is a phonetic phenomenon in which, under the
influence of a semivowel й ([j]) changes occurred in the pronunciation and
composition of sounds of the word. In Old Church Slavonic, iotation was
especially active when combining consonants with iotated vowels (such as є, ѥ,
ю, я), which led to softening, transitions and the emergence of new
combinations.
Based on the analysis of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, as well as the
orthography of the most ancient monuments, it is possible to reconstruct the
following initial composition of consonant phonemes of the Old Church Slavonic
language. In the Slavic languages and dialects, by the time writing appeared,
there were already some discrepancies concerning the composition of
consonant phonemes. The system of consonant sounds of the Old Church
Slavonic language contains a greater number of categories than the system of
vowel sounds. All consonant sounds of the Old Church Slavonic language can be
divided into two large groups:
• hard consonants;
• soft consonants.
Each of these groups contains a number of subgroups. In hard consonants,
the following are distinguished:
labial consonants, which include [б], [п], [м];
labiodental consonants containing only the sound [в];
anterior lingual consonants, which include [д], [т], [с], [з], [н], [л], [р];
back-lingual consonants containing sounds [г], [к], [х].
In the group of soft consonants, only two subgroups are distinguished:
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midlingual sounds to which the sound belonged [j];
frontal lingual sounds containing a number of consonant sounds and
distinguished by their large number [ц’], [ƺ’], [с’], [з’], [ш’т’], [ж’д’], [н’], [л’], [р’],
[ж’], [ш’], [ч’].
The phonetic system of the Old Church Slavonic language is a complex and
rich set of sound phenomena, reflecting both the ancient Indo-European
heritage and the original processes characteristic of the Slavic language group.
The analysis of such phenomena as palatalization, iotation, assimilation,
metathesis and loss of nasal vowels allows not only a deeper understanding of
the structure of the Old Church Slavonic language itself, but also to trace the
patterns of its influence on the subsequent development of the East Slavic
languages, in particular Russian.
The study of the phonetics of the Old Church Slavonic language is of key
importance in the context of historical linguistics, as it contributes to the
reconstruction of the Proto-Slavic state, the explanation of the modern sound
appearance of words and the identification of patterns of phonetic changes. In
addition, knowledge of these processes is important in the study of ancient
writing, the Church Slavonic tradition and texts of medieval culture.
Thus, the phonetic features of the Old Church Slavonic language not only
represent an important part of the history of Slavic languages, but are also an
important object of interdisciplinary research - from philology to cultural
studies.
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