DOI:10.30842/alp23065737181426443
Villanueva Svensson Miguel. The origin of
the Slavic 2 sg. present ending. Acta Linguistica
Petropolitana. 2022. 18(1): 426–443.
The two 2 sg. present ending variants of Slavic,
-sь/-šь and -si/-ši, are derived from pre-Slavic
*-si and *-s-ai̯ s, respectively. The first
variant is found in all Slavic languages, and in most of them it is
the only one. The second variant survived mainly in Old Russian
(cf. neseši) and Novgorod (cf. ideši) and as a
relic form in other languages (cf. Ukr. jesý, Cz.
jsi, SCr. jèsi). In both variants, the form with
-š- is dominant.
The first variant goes back to the Indo-European primary ending
2 sg. *-si. The second variant reflects the Proto-Slavic
form of the 2 sg. future with the sigmatic stem *-s-ai̯ s.
This complex formant was formed in the Proto-Slavic period by
adding the ending of the imperative 2 sg. *-ai̯ s (from
the Baltic-Slavic imp. *-ai̯ s that continues PIE opt.
*-o-i̯ h₁-s, compare OCS ved-i, OPr.
wed-ais) to the ending of the future 2 sg. *-s
(from PIE *-s-si; the athematic sigmatic stem of the
future is reconstructed for Balto-Slavic on the basis of the
Eastern Baltic languages, cf. Lith. duõs, Latv.
duôs 'he will give').
A partial apocope of the final *-i in Balto-Slavic
could be the main reason for this morphological innovation. As a
result of the apocope, a formal contrast developed between the
forms with accented ending (2 sg. *u̯ ede-si 'you lead')
and with unaccented endings (2 sg. *de̍ d-s 'you put').
The reduced ending *-s merged with the sigmatic future
stem, which provoked the renewal of this form with the imperative
ending *-ai̯ s in Balto-Slavic or Proto-Slavic, cf.
*dōd-s-si > *dōd-s-s > *dōd-s →
*dōd-s-ai̯ s. The loss of the sigmatic future and the
reduction of *-s in one of the two allomorphs of the 2 sg.
present form conditioned the creation of the ending *-sai̯
s and its spread to the paradigm of the present.
The dominant forms -ši and -šь resulted from
the first palatalization of velars from *-xi and
*-xь, which in turn developed from *-si and
*-sь according to the RUKI-rule in present stems in
-i-. The original forms with *-s- were preserved
only in athematic root present stems.
Keywords
Slavic, Balto-Slavic, Indo-European, Verb,
Endings
About the author
Villanueva
Svensson Miguel͏
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