North Slavic -ě vs. South Slavic -ę

A Problem of Forward Reconstruction

Abstract

The long problematic correspondence of North Slavic -ě ~ South Slavic -ę in the jo-stem accusative plural and jā-stem genitive singular and nominative and accusative plural is best explained by positing a Proto-Slavic contrast within the soft jā-stems between gen. sg., nom. pl. *-ē and acc. pl. *-ę̄ , which was leveled in different directions as NSl -ě and SSl -ę. With its nasal vowel, the acc. pl. ending must go back to *-jāns, thereby demonstrating that the PIE eh 2 -stem desinence *-eh2s > *-ās was remade to *-āns after the other declensional classes in the early prehistory of Slavic. The Baltic facts are consistent with a Proto-Balto-Slavic date for this innovation.