A Historical Phonology of the Slovene Language (review)

This book maintains the high level of scholarship which characterizes its predecessors in the Historical phonology of the Slavic Languages series. It comprises five sections: ‘Introduction’ (19–62), ‘Phonological processes at the time of Slavic settlement in the Eastern Alps’ (63–86), ‘Slovene outcomes of some Late Common Slavic and general South Slavic developments’ (87–104), ‘Slovene innovations’ (105–27), and ‘The dialectal disintegration of the Slovene speech territory’ (128–66). There are, in addition, three appendices (167–89) and two indexes (190–99). The sections are subdivided into chapters, each of which, in Sections 2–5, treats a sound change.

Several features contribute to the quality of Greenberg’s contribution: (1) a comprehensive account of Slovene historical phonology with chapters on dialectal diversity, contact between Slovene and other languages, the origin of Slovene, Slovene and its relationship to West Slavic, as well as Slovene and its relationship to Serbian dialects; (2) extensive reference to and discussion of existing treatments of the historical phonology of Slovene; (3) clear delineation of areas of scholarly dispute and mention of competing hypotheses relating to them, including those of the author; and (4) detailed treatment of dialectal vowel systems and prosodic changes. The last is of special importance. The dialectal systems and prosody of Slovene are areas of special complexity, combining elements on which there is general agreement among Slavists with those generating disagreement and speculation. G’s presentation of each is admirable for its clarity and thoroughness. Especially useful are the many diagrams specifying certain evolutionary stages of the vowel system of the language and the vowel systems of contemporary dialects. These diagrams include not only the relevant phonemes but the Common Slavic origin(s) of each which, in effect, serve as an index of chapters relating to the phonological history of the time period or dialect in question.

G has provided us with a scholarly reference which, in the fullness of its treatment, goes well beyond all preceding references of the subject matter. It is simultaneously a synthesis and an analysis of equal excellence and will therefore be of value to Slavists and others with a wide variety of interests relating to the phonological history of Slovene. If there is any criticism to be made, it is organizational: The treatment of dialects, so central a part of G’s discussion, is scattered, beginning in the first section and concluding in the first appendix. This not only dilutes the integrity of the treatment but forces the author, in the initial dialectal survey of the first section, to anticipate certain aspects of phonological change in Slovene before they are introduced as such in subsequent sections. Since contemporary dialectal differences are the result of, among other things, phonological changes, all consideration of dialectal phenomena might better have been undertaken in a single, final section. This notwithstanding, G’s study is a fine addition to the slowly, but ever increasing inventory of references relevant to the structure, history, and dialectology of Slovene.