Baltique oriental et baltique occidental, baltique et slave

Between Lithuanian and Latvian there are considerable differences with regard to the derivational structure of substantives (especially in the categories of nomina actionis, nomina collectiva and diminutives). A number of derivational isoglosses link the Lithuanian language to Old Prussian and oppose it to Latvian: nomina collectiva in *-ī-no-, *-ā-to-; diminutives in *-ol-Ìo-, *-i-s-t-Ìo-; nomina agentis in *-i-ko-; nomina attributiva in *-in-ī-ko-, *-e-no-, *-āt-Ìo-, *-ōl-Ìo-; nomina qualitatis in *-ībē, *-ī-s-tā, *-is-ko-. Some of these might reflect the influence of Western Baltic upon the formation of the Lithuanian language (especially upon its western and southern dialects). The main exclusive derivational innovation in the Baltic and Slavic languages (cf. nomina agentis in *-tā-Ìo-, *-ē-Ìo-, *-i-ko-, nomina attributiva in *-in-ī-ko-, *-in-ei-ko-) are accounted for by the old and permanent contacts between the two language groups, stemming from closely related but maybe different Proto-Indo-European dialects, cf. the old differences in the development of derivatives with the affix *-ī and in the structure of some related suffixes (Proto-Balt. *-ī-bā and Proto-Slav. *-i-bā in the nomina qualitatis, Proto-Balt. *-ū-no-and Proto-Slav. *-ou-no-in the nomina attributiva)

Latvian · Linguistics · Lithuanian · Slavic languages · European Linguistics and Anthropology · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy