Final Diphthongs in Baltic and Slavic

ABSTRACT

In East Baltic, the i–diphthongs were monophthongized in stressed syllables. The Slavic reflexes –ě and –i do not reflect a prehistoric contrast between circumflex and acute.

Notes

1 In his detailed treatment of the East Baltic secondary case endings, Daniel Petit does not offer an explanation for the inessive of the o–stems (2007, 356). The absence of –j– and the preservation of the glottalization show that the formation of the inessive was preceded by the East Baltic monophthongization of stressed *oi to *ẹ̄ in the ending. The identification of the Lith. ending –oje of the ā–stems with the Sanskrit ending –āyām (Seržant 2004) is arbitrary and cannot be maintained.