Illič-Svityč's law

Illič-Svityč's law refers to two Proto-Slavic rules, named after Russian Slavist Vladislav Illich-Svitych who discovered them.

Firstly, Illič-Svityč's law refers to the rule according to which Proto-Slavic thematic neuters accented on the first syllable become masculines. Compare:
* PIE PIE|*dʰwórom "n" > OCS "" "m"
* PIE *médʰu "n" 'mead' > PSl. *medu "m" (OCS "medъ")

This rule is important because it operated after the influx of Proto-Germanic/Gothic thematic neuters, which all became masculines in Proto-Slavic. Late Proto-Germanic (after the operation of Verner's law) had fixed accent on the first syllable. Compare:

* PSl. *xlaiwu "m" 'pigsty' (OCS "xlěvъ" ) < PGm. *hlaiwan "n"
* PSl. *xūsu/xūzu "m" 'house' (OCS "xyzъ") < PGm. *hūsan "n"
* PSl. *pulku "m" 'folk, people' (OCS " plъkъ") < PGm. *fulkan "n"

Secondly, Illič-Svityč's law refers to the rule according to which all masculine o-stems in Proto-Slavic generalized accentual mobility (accent paradigm 'c', as opposed to expected accent paradigm 'b'). Older literature suggestes that this was not Common Slavic innovation, and that there are exceptions in some Croatian Čakavian dialects of Susak and Istria, which have retained the original accentuation, but these have been disputed recently. [Vermeer 2001]

Notes

References

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* Willem Vermeer (2001). "Critical observations on the modus operandi of the Moscow Accentological School", Werner Lehfeldt, Einführung in die morphologische Konzeption der slavischen Akzentologie, 2d edition, München: Sagner, pp. 131-161.