Ablaut and transitive softening in the Russian verb

Bibliographic Data

ID19572807
AuthorsOra Matushansky (0000-0002-1420-7091, Structures Formelles du Langage, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume10
Publication date2023-05-13
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueProceedings of the Annual Meetings on Phonology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2377-3324 • E-ISSN: 2377-3324
PublisherLinguistic Society of America (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.3765/amp.v10i0.5446
OpenAlexW4379053679
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

Transitive softening in Russian is a type of consonant mutation resulting from an underlying [CjV] cluster. There exist two closed classes of verbs where it occurs in the present tense in the absence of a clear source for a glide: five verbs with the thematic suffix ‐o‐, which can be illustrated by the verb kolótj ‘to stab’, and some 100 verbs with the thematic suffix ‐a‐, which can be illustrated by the verb pisátj ‘to write’. To explain how [o] and [a] end up as glides, I propose that the vowels in question change into their front counterparts as a result of the same process as that responsible for the stem ablaut in the verb molótj ‘to grind’ (1sg: meljú). I argue that the hypothesis that ablaut can apply to thematic vowels as well as to stems makes it possible to account for another Russian verb exhibiting an unexpected behavior in the present tense (revétj ‘to bellow’). Since the latter part of the argument introduces ablauts involving more than one feature, the remainder of the paper is dedicated to the discussion of how multiple feature changes should be formalized

Combinatorics · Linguistics · Modal verb · Reflexive verb · Suffix · Transitive relation · Verb · Computer Science · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution · Mathematics · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research

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