Authors

Discussion

The paper focuses on the so-called dialectal umlaut of ’a (from *a, *ę) to e, ÿ, i in the Kryvorivnja dialect (Kr), one of the Southeast Hutsul dialects of Southwest Ukrainian, e.g., Kr pr’ÿst’ÿ vs. Standard Ukrainian pr’astÿ (Common Slavic (CS) *pręsti ‘spin, weave’). The Kr reflexes of CS *a, *ę are placed into the purview of the tendency toward intrasyllabic harmony attested in CS. I reinterpret the concept of intrasyllabic harmony with respect to the distinctive tonality feature of flatness (rounding), i.e., “high tonality” consonant allophone (palatalized) arose before vowel “with distinctive high tonality” (non-flat) and low tonality allophone (non-palatalized) arose before vowel with distinctive low tonality (flat). Interacting with the vowel [-flt], the allophonic realization of the consonant was sharp and the direction of motivation was from consonant to vowel. The palatalization of consonants before vowels [-flt]  occurred prior to *ę > ’a, that is, at least till the mid-10th c. This triggered the reassessment of sharping along with the following reassessment of the direction of motivation within the tendency toward intrasyllabic harmony, which was now from consonant to a vowel, and the subsequent shift of ’a