Pronunciation of 'g' in '-ogo' and 'ego'

[John Dunn]

Though Borkovskij and Kuznetsov and, more recently, V.V. Kolesov accept the phonetic explanation along the lines mentioned by Will Ryan, others are more doubtful.  Both Kiparsky and Vlasto mention the possibility of contamination with genitive singular ending of possessive adjectives (Petrov ~ Petrova); it may be pertinent that the (ordinary) adjective ending is frequently spelled -ova (novova) in sixteenth- and seventeenth Muscovite sources.

John Dunn.


-----Original Message-----
From: William Ryan <wfr at SAS.AC.UK>
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:26:24 +0000
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Pronunciation of 'g' in '-ogo' and 'ego'

Boris Unbegaun, La Langue russe au XVI siecle, Paris, 1935, p. 322 gives 
this change as 15th-century and says the reason for g>v in these cases, 
despite all attempts to explain it, remains obscure. He gives footnote 
references to Sobolevskii and Plotnikova. No doubt there have been newer 
hypotheses since then. I recall a suggestion of dialectal changes of 
unstressed -ogo> -oho> -oo, with a subsequent epethetic v (as in 
pauk>pavuk), but I can't remember where, and I fear the chronology and 
written evidence of the intermediate forms required might exclude such 
an explanation.

Will Ryan

enteenth Muscovite sources.

John Dunn.


-----Original Message-----
From: William Ryan <wfr at SAS.AC.UK>
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:26:24 +0000
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Pronunciation of 'g' in '-ogo' and 'ego'

Boris Unbegaun, La Langue russe au XVI siecle, Paris, 1935, p. 322 gives 
this change as 15th-century and says the reason for g>v in these cases, 
despite all attempts to explain it, remains obscure. He gives footnote 
refe
John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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