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Jers refer to two vowel phonemes of the late Proto-Slavic and old Slavic languages, namely back  jer (/ъ/) and front  jer (/ь/). In phonetic transcription, the symbols  ъ and  ь taken from the Cyrillic alphabet are used. The  jer phonemes are called  jerˈˈ ( ъ) and  jerˈ ( ь) by the names of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic  jer letters (OCS  jerъ and  jerь) that symbolized /ъ/ and /ь/ in Old Church Slavic writing. Late PSl * ъ, * ь originated from the early PSl * ŭ,  ĭ as a result of lowering. Later, the  jer phonemes underwent the so-called  jer shift, when in some positions (“weak”),  jers…

Polnoglasie ‘pleophony’ or ‘full vocalism’ refers to East Slavic resolution of Proto-Slavic diphthongs ending in the liquids * r and * l. In the East Slavic languages, these diphthongs have reflexes with a vowel on each side of the sonorant (e.g., ORu  zoloto, Ru, Uk  zóloto, Br  zólata ‘gold’ < PSl * zolt- < PIE * ǵʰolt-) as opposed to South and West Slavic reflexes with a vowel in postsonorant position (e.g., OCS  zlato, Bg  zlató, Cz  zlato, Po  złoto, etc.).  Polnoglasie includes two varieties, according to their origin and dialectal distribution: primary  polnoglasie   (see…

forthcomingMikhail B. Popov

Jat refers to a vowel phoneme of the late Proto-Slavic and older varieties of Slavic languages. In transcription, the symbol  ě taken from the Czech alphabet is used. The /ě/-phoneme is called  jat after the name (apparently from Old Church Slavic  ědь ‘food’) of the Glagolitic Ⱑ and Cyrillic Ѣ  ě-letter that symbolized it in Old Church Slavic writing. PSl * ě originated from the merger of two phonemes, * ě₁ (< * ē) and * ě₂ (< * ai̯). The phonetic value of the /ě/-phoneme and its place in the sound patterns of late Proto-Slavic dialects is a matter of dispute. Reflexes of * ě in modern Sl…