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Mazurism – the term refers to the transformation of alveolar fricatives and affricates into the corresponding dental ones in Polish. Related phenomena also occur in numerous Slavic dialects.Mazurism is the term used in Polish linguistics ( mazurzenie [mɑzuʒɛɲe]) to refer to the phenomenon of the transformation of alveolar fricatives and affricates into the corresponding dental ones, e.g., Po czas ‘time’ [ʧɑs] > [ʦɑs], szary ‘grey’ [ʃɑrɨ] > [sɑrɨ], żaba [ʒɑbɑ] ‘frog’ > [zɑbɑ]. The term is infelicitous as it relates to a particular geographical region (Mazuria …

Phonological differences among Slavic languages can be best interpreted in terms of the differences in the degree to which the sonority scale is applied in syllables. In those Slavic languages in which the sonority scale is used more consistently, only “one-peak” syllables occur. This is the prevailing syllable structure in the languages of the world. Some Slavic languages, however, admit two-peak syllables.Sonority is a poorly defined (Ohala 1992) and complex feature. It should be understood as the audibility (perceptibility) of a segment. Audibility (…

Pochylenie ‘stooping’, ‘leaning’, or ścieśnienie ‘squeezing’ or ‘narrowing’ (the latter term is now rarely used), in Polish linguistics refers to the qualitative differentiation of formerly distinctively long and short vowels. Pochylenie ‘stooping’, ‘leaning’, or ścieśnienie ‘squeezing’ or ‘narrowing’ (the latter term is now rarely used), in Polish linguistics refers to the qualitative differentiation of formerly distinctively opposed long and short vowels. Pochylenie/ścieśnienie refers to higher varieties of mid and low vowels. Narrowed vowels existed a…

Slavic phonotactics is determined by two types of context: firstly, it observes the distributional restrictions attendant on the syllable model (these are discussed in the entry on syllable structure); secondly, it is determined by  restrictions linked to the immediate segmental environment. The latter is connected with assimilation and lenition processes, which are largely statistical in nature. This means that some of them, although common, are not obligatory. Voicing and devoicing of obstruents (internal and external sandhi) are among the most regular of such processes.The …