issues on Bulgarian verbal morphology

[Iskra Iskrova]

Dear SEELANGers,

These are questions on Bulgarian verbal morphology. I am looking at some
phonological processes within the verbal system.

1.      I would like to know the origin of the present endings 1st p.
sg. -a(m) and 3rd p. pl. -at. These morphemes were -oN(t) in OCS. How
did the nasal vowel become [a]? Or where does this -a ending come from?

2.      The thematic vowel for 1st (pletem) and 2nd (letim) conjugation
surfaces in all the other persons, except in front of this -a(t) ending.
If it were there in the underlying representation when the ending was
added, then it would have triggered some processes such as
palatalization for verbs which stem ends by a velar: I would expect
outputs such as *pecha 'I bake' (instead of peka). Why the thematic
vowel does not affect in any way 1st p sg and 3rd p pl in the
conjugation?

3.      Another puzzling situation is the fact that velars in secondary
imperfectives palatalize in front of ending -am, thus shifting into 3rd
conjugation: teka / izteka / izticham 'to leak'. In order to understand
this unexpected palatalization process, I am wondering again if there is
not some historical explanation about the origin of this ending. As far
as I know, Bulgarian 3rd conjugation has developed from the endings of
the athematic verbs in OCS: jesmj, njesmj, jamj and damj. Is there some
evidence for a floating [-back] feature that triggers the palatalization
without surfacing? Before positing a floating feature in modern
Bulgarian, I would like to check the possible evidence for such feature
in the historical development of the language.

4.      In OCS, looking at verbs with final velar consonant, I realize
that the infinitive form had undergone 1st palatalization: moshti /
mogoN, reshti /rekoN. This is not a typical context for 1st
palatalization that normally occurs before a front vowel, not before a
consonant. Do you know if there is an underlying /[-back vowel]/ in the
infinitive that does not surface?

Any suggestions about the origin of these endings or the surprising
palatalization processes that they trigger are welcome. Could you
suggest references where I can find information about the development of
Bulgarian verbal endings from OCS? General references on OCS did not
turn out being helpful, since they look at the system within OCS only. I
would love to find some reference that displays the historic change from
the OCS verbal system to modern Bulgarian giving the historical origin
of modern endings.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice,

Iskra.

_____________________________
Iskra Iskrova
PhD Student in Linguistics
Indiana University, Bloomington

iiskrova at indiana.edu
_____________________________

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