Позиционната консонантна мекост и прегласът на э
Positional Consonantal Softness and Jat-Shift

Summary/Abstract: The author argues that the so-called positional consonantal softness (palatalization of all consonants before nonback vowels) was a late process in Bulgarian dialects. Data from the Cherged prayers written in the 16th century with Latin letters in an old north-eastern Bulgarian dialect suggest that the so-called jat-shift is to be explained as follows: 1. The ý-vowel lengthened under stress, provoking the appearance of [j] after the preceding consonant. 2. “Ý” changed to [a] under stress in front of an non-coronal syllable a hard consonant (or consonants) followed by a back vowel. The change is to be explained as a regressive assimilation for [-coronal]. 3. In all other positions “ý” changed to [e].

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