An Italian cellist’s journey into Serbian Language — Lesson 15

Phonetic transformations (Part 5)

Welcome back!

After the brief tangent we took last time with family names in Serbian, we are now ready to resume our journey through phonetic transformations. I know this is not an easy topic to follow, but we are almost through—three more, including this one. So, please, fasten your seatbelts and let’s get started.

Iotation

The iotation is a phonetic transformation where the sound ј preceded by a non-palatal consonant gets synthesised into a new palatal consonant. In Serbian, this is called јотовање because in the past the J sound was called јота.

Oral and oral-dental consonants (п, б, м, в), when adding the ј, become a consonant group in which the first consonant remains unchanged and the ј changes into љ. In the following table, you can see how consonants change:

Origin	Combination	Result
З, Г	З+ј / Г+ј	Ж
С, Х	С+ј / Х+ј	Ш
Д	Д+ј	Ђ
Т	Т +ј	Ћ
Л	Л +ј	Љ
Н	Н +ј	Њ
Б	Б +ј	Бљ
П	П +ј	Пљ
М	М +ј	Мљ
В	В +ј	Вљ
К, Ц	К +ј / Ц+ј	Ч

If you look carefully, you may notice some common pattern surfacing through all phonetic transformations.

Let’s look at when iotation happens.

Comparatives

In comparatives (more than…), when к, г, х come before the endings -ја, -је, -ји. To create comparatives, one normally adds the -ји ending to the adjective. So, the word млад (IT: giovane; EN: young), would transition through младји before becoming млађи (IT: più giovane; EN: younger).

Let’s see a few more examples to cover more consonants:

1. Љут (IT: piccante; EN: spicy), goes through the temporary form љутји before ending up into љући (IT: più piccante; EN: spicier).
2. Брз (IT: veloce; EN: fast). Notice how this word has no vocals, with only the semi-consonant р ensuring some air in the middle. The transitory form брзји becomes бржи (IT: più veloce; EN: faster) through the iotation process.
3. Густ (IT: denso; EN: thick, dense) is important because it undergoes two transformations before reaching its final form. Густји, which through iotation becomes Гусћи, then needs to indulge the place of articulation requests and become Гушћи. To recap how this last transformation works, check this prior post.
4. Далек (IT: lontano; EN: far) removes the -ек ending, adds the -ји one (далји), and becomes даљи (IT: più lontano; EN: farther)
5. Дуг (IT: lungo; EN: long) transitions through дугји to become дужи (IT: più lungo; EN: longer)
6. Црн (IT: nero; EN: black) has to pass through црнји before assuming its final form, црњи (IT: più nero; EN: blacker)
7. Јак (IT: forte; EN: strong) first adds the -ји, then ending up as јачи.

Verbal forms

In verbs whose infinitive ending is -ати, and whose present stem ends in к, г, х, с, з, д, т, or ц, the declination of the present tense is subjected to the iotation. For example, the verb плакати (IT: pianger; EN: to weep) has плак- as present stem. Adding -(ј)ем to it brings into contact the к with the ending, requiring a phonetical transformation, in this case the iotation. The first-person singular of the present tense is, therefore, плачем.

The verb махати (IT: salutare con la mano; EN: to salute with your hand), would become махем, but the iotation transforms the х into ш, giving us машем. Лагати (IT: mentire; EN: to lie), transitions into лагем before settling into its definitive form of лажем. Similarly, казати (IT: dire; EN: to say), goes through казем to become кажем.

To dance (IT: danzare) requires the verb плесати in Serbian: the form плесем cannot stay as such, ending up into плешем. Finally, кретати (IT: partire; EN: to leave (as when starting a trip)), first becomes кретем and then settles into крећем.

Passive past participle

Verbs that end in -ити and -ети, and that would have -им as present ending, undergo the iotation process when the -(ј)ен ending is used to constitute the passive past participle. The first example is мазити (IT: accarezzare; EN: to caress). Its present stem is маз- and, thus, its transitory form is мазјен. The iotation, therefore, changes it to мажен (IT: accarezzato; EN: caressed). Ранити (IT: ferire; EN: to hurt/injure/wound someone) goes through ранјен to become рањен.

Спасити (IT: salvare; EN: to save sb.) transitions through спасјен before settling into спашен (IT: salvato; EN: saved). Few more examples:

Infinitive	Transitory form	Passive past participle
Љубити (IT: baciare; EN: to kiss)	Љуб + јен	Љубљен (IT: baciato; EN: kissed)
Купити (IT: comprare; EN: to buy)	Куп + јен	Купљен (IT: comprato; EN: bought)
Волети (IT: amare; EN: to love)	Вол + јен	Вољен (IT: amato; EN: beloved)

Imperfect tense

This is only mentioned in my Italian book of Serbian grammar, while dedicated Serbian websites do not list it. It works similarly to the other examples: you take the infinitive form, remove the ending to find the stem of the present tense, then add the appropriate ending. Градити (IT: edificare; EN: to build/construct) has Град- as present stem (which by itself would mean “city”, by the way). Adding the imperfect’s ending (-јах, -јаше, -јаше, -јасмо, -јасте, -јаху), the д comes in contact with the j and must therefore change into a ђ. The transitory form is Градјен, and the final form is Грађах.

Feminine noun in the singular instrumental case

In feminine nouns ending in consonant, the iotation is needed because the instrumental singular ending is -ју. The word глад (IT: fame; EN: hunger), goes through гладју to become глађу (IT: con la fame; EN: with the hunger).

Крв (IT: sangue; EN: blood) becomes крвљу because в and ј next to each other trigger the iotation. Finally, љубав (IT: amore; EN: love), becomes љубављу following the same pattern.

There are three more examples I would like to look at, since they undergo several transformations. The word радост (IT: felicità; EN: happiness), starts its evolution path as радостју. Now, going in order: the т+ј need to iodise, becoming ћ (радосћу), then the assimilation based on the place of articulation asks that the dental с becomes ш (радошћу). Following the same path, the word храброст (IT: coraggio; EN: courage), passes through храбросћу to become храброшћу.

Finally, we get a teaser for one of the upcoming lessons: мисао (IT: pensiero; EN: thought), while not ending in a consonant, it originates from the transformation of the л in о (мисал > мисао). The л is still present in the word’s declination, but the falling of the “moveable A” brings it in touch with the previous с (the infinitive of the verb “to think” (IT: pensare) is мислити). At this point, the л goes through the iotation process when coming in touch with the instrumental ending -ју, becoming љ. Finally, the с in front of the љ becomes ш because of the assimilation based on the place of articulation. The final result is, therefore, мишљу.

Derivation suffix

When a word comes in contact with a derivation suffix—that is, a suffix that alters the meaning of a word—, and the suffix is one among је, -јанин, -јах or -ји, the iotation will occur.

The word корен (IT: radice; EN: root), becomes корење (IT: radici; EN: roots) in its plural form (it is an irregular noun that doesn’t follow the ordinary declination). The transformation occurs after the word comes in contact with the suffix -је, for the same reasons listed before.

When somebody or something is healthy (IT: sano), in Serbian we use the word здрав. Adding -је to the end goes through здравје to become здравље (IT: salute; EN: health).

The suffix -јанин, instead, is used after the name of a city to identify their inhabitants. For example, Трст (Trieste), makes a convoluted series of jumps before assuming its final form of Тршћанин. First, we have the iotation that gives us Трсћанин, and then we have the assimilation based on the place of articulation that changes the с into ш.

Finally, the word риба (IT: pesce; EN: fish), when coming in touch with -ји, becomes рибљи (IT: ittico; EN: fish (adjective)).

Exceptions

The iotation doesn’t occur in the following cases:

1. When prefixes ending in a consonant and verbs beginning with a -ј come in contact, for example, објавити (IT: annunciare; EN: announce).
2. When the consonants с and з are followed by the suffix -ји: козји (IT: caprino; EN: goatish), and not кожи.

Summary

Today we looked at another quite complex topic, so let’s try to summarise what we have learned:

• The iotation occurs when the consonants з, с, д, т, л, н, м, б, п, в, к, г, х come into contact with the -ј.
• The -ј disappears, and the consonants gets transformed into either another consonant of a group.

Bottom Line

That’s it for today, and I hope you enjoyed it.

In the next lesson, we will tackle the dissimilation of consonants, which is something almost totally new. Stay tuned!

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See you soon for another lesson!