Phonetic transformations (Part 6)
Welcome back! I am glad you have made a deliberate choice to come back and travel alongside me in this fascinating journey through the Serbian language. Today, we will look at one more phonetical transformation, the dissimilation of consonants. Brace up, and let’s get started.
Dissimilation of Consonants
The name of this transformation in Serbian is упрошћавање сугласничких група, that is, the simplification of consonantal groups (in Italian it’s called the “Dissimilazione delle consonanti” and English has the word “Dissimilation” as a specific phonetical noun.
This transformation is needed because when words are formed through derivation from other words, certain consonantal groups are formed. Other times, instead, coming in contact with specific endings, or the effect of other phonetic transformations may trigger this. The core is: these groups are challenging to pronounce and therefore must be simplified.
Derivations
When the last consonant of a word—usually a preposition—is the same as the first consonant of the following word, one of the two falls because Serbian phonetic rules do not allow two equal consonants one next to the other. It often happens that, before the dissimilation, the assimilation based on sonority or on the place of articulation occur.
The first example today is the word бесан (IT: insonne; EN: sleepless (person)). It comes from the prefix без (IT: senza; EN: without) and сан (IT: sonno; EN: sleep). Joining these two words would give безсан, but the з and с have different sonorities and, thus, the first one has to change for its unvoiced counterpart, which is с again. This would give бессан, but we cannot have two equal consonants and, therefore, one of the two falls. The Serbian grammar doesn’t specify which one falls. It may look like a trivial or redundant question, but since we keep track of everything that changes, it may help have some kind of general rule.
The word педесет (IT: cinquanta; EN: fifty) comes from the joining of пет (IT: cinque; EN: five) and десет (IT: dieci; EN: ten). Once more, петдесет cannot stay because of the difference in sonority (the unvoiced т must become voiced, that is, д) and, consequently, we find ourselves with педдесет. One of the дs, thus, has to go away.
The perfective verb раширити (IT: allargare; EN: to widen/broaden/extend) comes from the prefix раз and the verb ширити (it has the same meaning, but in its imperfective version)1. We start from разширити, then:
- Through the assimilation based on sonority, the з becomes с: расширити.
- Through the assimilation based on the place of articulation, the с becomes ш: рашширити.
- Finally, thanks to the dissimilation of consonants, one of the two шs falls: раширити.
Declination of masculine nouns
During the declination of certain masculine nouns, usually ending in к or ц, the consonants т and д disappear if they are found before one of the following consonants: ц, ч, ћ, ђ, џ. Тhis contact is often caused by the fall of the “moveable A” or when forming the future tense from the substantive.
The word почетак (IT: inizio; EN: beginning) becomes почеци in the nominative plural, but how did it get there? First, it added the -и ending (почетаки); then the moveable A fell (почетки); the second palatalisation, then, shaped the к into ц (почетци); finally, the dissimilation made the т fall, giving us our final result.
Following the same path, the word задатак (IT: compito; EN: assignment / homework) becomes задаци.
Another, most important example that we have already glimpsed in a previous lesson, is the word отац (IT: padre; EN: father). Now, we can finally understand the full transformation it undergoes to reach its vocative singular form of оче! First, we add the -е ending (отаце); then the moveable A falls (отце). The first palatalisation, this time, shapes the ц into ч (отче) and the dissimilation completes the work.
Т and д fall
The т and д can become lost in front of the consonantal group -шт, for example in the compound word made up from the prefix под- and the verb штапати се. The final version, поштапати се, where the д has fallen, means to lean on a walking stick (IT: appoggiarsi ad un bastone). After all, штап means walking stick (IT: bastone).
The т can also fall in the feminine and neuter forms of adjectives ending in -стан, after the falling of the moveable A. For example, the word радостан (IT: allegro; EN: cheerful) would become радостана, but, with the fall of the moveable A, we would get радостна. In this case, the т falls, and we are left with the much easier to pronounce радосна.
When we find the consonants с, з, ш, к in front of either т or д, and followed by any of б, л, к, љ, м, н, њ, the т/д can fall under certain circumstances. The word болест (IT: malattia; EN: illness) can add the suffix -љив to mean sickly, unhealthy (IT: malaticcio, propenso ad ammalarsi). Starting with болестљив, we first get dissimilation of consonants that makes the т fall (болесљив); we then witness the assimilation based on the place of articulation in action, shaping the с into a ш (болешљив).
Exceptions to this last rule
The т and д do not fall when:
- Nouns or adjectives end in -ст (e.g., протестни (IT: di protesta; EN: concerning a protest), or артисткиња (IT: artista, donna; EN: female artist).
- The derivation suffix is either -ски or -ство: београдски (IT: belgradese; EN: from Belgrade)
- The derivation prefix ends in д
- In specific words such as попустљив (IT: accondiscendente; EN: condescending) and шестсто (IT: seicento; EN: six-hundred)
The fall of the с
When preceded by ћ, ч, ш, ор ж, the с of the suffixes -ски and -ство falls. When talking about a monk, Serbian uses the word монах (IT: monaco). Here, we need another transformation since we cannot have монахски as final form. To begin with, the х becomes ш through the first palatalisation; then, the с simply falls, returning монашки.
The book didn’t give any example where the с of the suffix -ство would get lost, but I will update this lesson should I find a suitable candidate.
General exceptions (изузеци од правила)
In the following cases, the dissimilation doesn’t take place:
- Superlatives that begin with the letter ј: e.g., најјачи (IT: il più forte; EN: the strongest)
- Compound words such as транссибирски (IT: transiberiano; EN: Trans-Siberian)
Bottom line
That’s it for today, and I hope you enjoyed it. In the next lesson, we will tackle the moveable A, which we have encountered a few times already! Stay tuned!
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See you soon for another lesson!
- Perfective verbs describe a single action, or an action that happened only once. Imperfective verbs describe repeated or repeatable actions, instead. ↩
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