GEN.PL of _svecha_ and other such words in Russian

[Loren A. Billings]

Dear Colleagues:

Many characterizations of the GEN.PL of nouns in Russian are as follows:

     If the NOM.SG is:            Then the GEN.PL is:

        a vowel                          zero
         zero                           -ov or -ej

(I am not asking about whether -ov or -ej is used.)  What concerns me is a
number of stems with -a NOM.SG forms preeceded by a husher, such as svech-a
'candle', which used to take GEN.PL svech, but now take svech-ej (cf. the
calcified exppession _Ne stoit svech_ 'It's not woth the candle (lit.
candles)').

Hom amny other forms like svech have gone to svechej?  Are they linked to
stress?  My informants do not like kioskershej, preferring kioskersh instead.
I suspect this phenomenon is in diachronic transition.  Can anyone out there
direct me to a good descriptive article on this, or does anyone know the
answer.  I'll post a summary to the list.

Best,  --Loren Billings (billings at mailer.fsu.edu)