Prečo slovo dcéra obsahuje dlhé é?

Year, pages: 2021, 298 - 307

The paper aims to explain the origin of the long é in the Slovak word dcéra ‘daughter’, which is the only word of the original lexical layer that has a long é in its root. Its length is difficult to explain by comparative Slavic accentology since relevant languages generally show a short vowel in this position. Another peculiarity of this word is the fact that é did not undergo the Central Slovak diphthongization that otherwise regularly occurs after c. The author offers a solution in the cultural influence of Czech, which Slovaks had been using as a written language for centuries. It is argued that the original Common Slavic word *dъťi had been lost in Slovak and replaced by a word *děvъka, while dcera was introduced into the Slovak vernacular through Czech religious texts. The initial Czech graphic cluster dc- had been realized as a geminated [cː] by Slovak priests, the pronunciation of which was interpreted as compensatory lengthening of the following vowel, and this length was subsequently phonologized. The lengthening of e and consequent phonologization could be linked to the spread of Czech printed books, so it must be posterior to the Central Slovak diphthongization.

Habijanec, S. 2021. Prečo slovo dcéra obsahuje dlhé é?. In Jazykovedný časopis, vol. 72, no.1, pp. 298-307. ISSN 0021-5597. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jazcas-2021-0029

Habijanec, S. (2021). Prečo slovo dcéra obsahuje dlhé é?. Jazykovedný časopis, 72(1), 298-307. ISSN 0021-5597. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jazcas-2021-0029