[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
consonants (other than nasals), but in the feminine/neuter genitive plural they have generalized to all
positions.
Examples with grammatical environment indicated:
Open Syllable/Non-Zero Ending Closed Syllable/Zero Ending
1. o~u
Non-zero ending: Nominative sing. before voiced:
wozu 'cart (gen. sg.) wóz
rogu 'horn (gen. sg.) róg
twoja 'your (nom. fem. sg.) twój
miodu 'honey (gen. sg.) miód
utworu 'composition utwór
(gen. sg.)
soli 'salt (gen. sg.) sól
Other past forms: 3sg. masc. past tense:
niosła 'carry (3sg. fem.), niósł
niosłem (1sg. masc.)
35
wiozła 'transport by vehicle wiózł
(3sg. fem.), wiozłem (1sg.
masc.)
Non-zero ending: Genitive plur. before all
consonants:
osa 'wasp' ós
cnota 'virtue' cnót
obora 'cow barn' obór
2. ę~ą Non-zero ending: Nominative sing. before voiced:
dębu 'oak (gen. sg.) dąb
męża 'husband (gen. sg.) mąż
zęby 'tooth (nom. pl.) ząb
Non-zero endings with Genitive plur. of -ęt nouns:
-ęt suffixed nouns:
cielęta 'calf (nom. pl.) cieląt
Vocalic verbal endings Verbal infinitive and masc. sing.
after a root with ę: past with closed syllables:
zaczęła 'begin (3sg. fem. zacząć (infin.), zaczął (3sg. masc.
past)' past), but zacząłem (1sg. masc. past)
Note: the forms niosłem/wiozłem, but zacząłem illustrate that the very same past tense personal endings
have a different effect on the alternations o~u as compared to ę~ą. They act as creators of open syllables
in the case of o~u, but as if they do not create an open syllable in the case of ę~ą. This variable situation
can be better understood if we assume that these endings are separable and can optionally either create an
open syllable or not. In any case, they have been generalized in two opposite ways by the two major
vocalic alternations which are conditioned by open and closed syllables.
Vowel~Zero Alternations
As in other Slavic languages, many Polish morphemes have two shapes, one with a vowel [e] and
the other lacking it. (There are also a few rare and exceptional alternations of zero and the vowel [o], all
before the labialized consonant [ł] and likely conditioned by it: e.g. osi/o/ł 'donkey (nom. sg.)'~os/ła (gen.
sg.), kozi/o/ł 'male goat (nom. sg.)'~koz/ła (gen. sg.), kocioł 'cauldron (nom. sg.)'~kot/ła 'gen. sg.). Since
the occurrence of this alternation is often unpredictable, morphophonemic transcriptions often note it with
a device such as a slash (/), which will be the method used in this description. Once the slash appears and
its location is known, it is usually possible to predict whether the slash position will be realized by the
vowel alternant /e/ or the zero alternant (simply / between consonants). In the case of more than one
slash, one starts the process of calculating vowels and zeroes at the end of the word. A vowel is usually
36
predicted either by a zero slash in the next syllable or a non-vocalic grammatical ending. The zero
position often generalizes the hard (usually labial or dental) value of the preceding consonant, while the
very same consonant can be either hard or soft (palatalized or palatal) in the pre-vocalic position. Thus,
the C/C positions share hard dental [d] in d/nia day (masc. gen. sg.) and d/no bottom (neut. nom. sg.) ,
but have a hard-soft opposition in the C/e/C sequences: dzień 'day(nom. sg.)', but den 'bottom (gen. pl.)'.
If one were to only remember the nominative singular forms as vocabulary items (i.e. dzień and dno), the
second word would not definitively give information about whether [d] or [dz] will appear as the vowel
alternant. Therefore, it is advisable to remember a word not only with the notion of a slash (or slashes) in
its transcription (i.e. dzi/e/ń and d/no), but with the information about whether the consonant is hard or
soft in its vowel alternant.
In the system of noun declension, the primary positions for the occurrence of the vowel~zero
alternation are those case forms which take the zero ending (nominative singular and genitive plural).
They condition the presence of the vowel alternant in a preceding slash position, while a vowel conditions
the presence of a zero, as follows:
Grammatical Forms Vowel Alternant Before Zero Alternant Before
Zero Ending Vocalic Ending
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]