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173 CHAPTER 11 112 The system of consonant softenings Certain grammatical forms of a word require that the stem-final consonant be replaced by another, similar sounding consonant. This process is usually referred to as softening. The correspondences between the base consonant and its softened version fall into three different groups. The following sections list the correspondences and give examples of the categories in which the several softenings occur. To emphasize the fact that these softenings are restricted to stem-final consonants, hyphens in each example mark the end of the stem. For more discussion of the relationship between stem structure and consonant softening, see [167a]. 112a. Type A softening Type A softening occurs in noun declension in three different instances: Npl. of masculine nouns (review [32b]), DLIpl. of masculine nouns (review [86]), and DLsg. of feminine nouns (review [66a], and see [158]). In verbs, it occurs in the imperative (review [78a]) and the imperfect tense of type 15 (see [150b]). It is also encountered in a few instances of verbal derivation, as exemplified in the chart below. Although one must not assume that all verbs of type 7 form their imperfective partners by this means, the pattern occurs frequently enough that one should be aware of it in building vocabulary. Only three consonants are involved in Type A softening. The chart below gives the correspondences , and examples of each context where the softening occurs. TYPE A base consonant K G H softened version C Z S Base Softened K G H ➤ C Z S noun, masculine Nsg. noun, masculine Npl. vòjnik-Ø biòlog-Ø òrah-Ø ➤ vojnìc-i biòloz-i òras-i noun, masculine Nsg noun, masculine DLIpl. vòjnik-Ø biòlog-Ø òrah-Ø ➤ vojnìc-ima biòloz-ima òras-ima noun, feminine Nsg. noun, feminine DLsg. rùk-a knjig-a svr̀h-a ➤ rùc-i knjiz-i svr̀s-i type 15a-b verb, 3pl. pres type 15a-b verb, imperative (sg.) obùk-u pòmog-nu ➤ obùc-i pomòz-i type 15a-b verb, 3pl. pres type 15a-b verb, imperfect (1sg.) pèk-u strig-n-u ➤ pèc-ijah strìz-ijah verb (type 7) perfective verb (type 5) imperfective màk-nuti dig-nuti dàh-nuti ➤ mic-ati diz-ati dìs-ati CHAPTER 11 174 112b. Type B softening Type B softening involves the same three consonants as Type A plus one more, but the results are very different. In nouns, this softening occurs in masculine nouns in the Vsg. (review [88]) and before the singulative suffix -in (review [32g]), and in the plural of two irregular nouns (review [110a]). In adjectives it occurs with certain stems (primarily kinship terms) before the possessive suffixes -in and -ov (review [41b]). In verbs it occurs in all forms of the present tense of type 15a verbs but 3rd plural (and in the case of moći, all but 1sg. and 3pl.). Type B softening is found widely in derivation processes, a few examples of which are given below (for more on derivation, see [163b-c]). TYPE B base consonant K G H C softened version Č Ž Š Č Base Softened K G H C Č Ž Š Č noun, masculine Nsg. noun, masculine Vsg. vuk-Ø Bog-Ø duh-Ø otac-Ø ➤ vuč-e Bož-e duš-e oč-e noun, masculine Apl. noun, masculine sg. (Nsg.) Turk-e ➤ Tùrč-in noun, neuter sg. (NAsg.) noun, feminine pl (NApl.) ok-o uh-o ➤ oč-i uš-i noun (usually kinship term) possessive adjective (masc.Nsg.) majk-a stric-Ø ➤ majč-in strič-ev type 15a verb, 3pl. present type 15a verb, other present (2sg.) tèk-u mog-u ➤ tèč-eš mož-eš type 15a verb, 3pl. present type 15a vb, passive participle (Nsg.m. short) rek-nu strìg-nu ➤ rèč-en strìž-en type 15a verb, 3pl. present type 15a verb, 2-3sg aorist rek-nu strìg-nu ➤ reč-e striž-e verb (types 7, 15b), perfective verb (type 4), imperfective krìk-nuti izbèg-nuti ➤ krìč-ati bèž-ati noun (Nsg.) derived adjective (Nsg. masc. short) mrak-Ø tùg-a strah-Ø sunc-e ➤ mràč-an tùž-an stràš-an sunč-an B,C,S uho / S uvo; E izbegnuti / J izbjegnuti; E bežati / J bježati 112c. Type C softening Type C is by far the most widespread kind of consonant softening in BCS. It is also the most complex, in that it embraces a very large group of...

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