An Italian cellist’s journey into Serbian Language — Lesson 20

Recap on the Phonetic Transformations

Welcome back to a new Serbian language lesson. In this lesson, we go through all phonetic transformations encountered so far. Let’s get started.

1. Recap on the Phonetic Transformations
   1. Assimilation Based on Sonority
   2. Assimilation Based on Place of Articulation
   3. First Palatalisation
   4. Second Palatalisation
   5. Iotation
   6. Dissimilation of Consonants
   7. The Moveable A
   8. Transformation of L into O
   9. Final Phonetic Transformations
2. Bottom line

Assimilation Based on Sonority

The Једначење сугласника по звучности occurs when two consonants of different sonority (voiced/unvoiced) appear together, one next to the other. The first consonant changes to match the second’s sonority. For example, топџија (gunman) becomes тобџија as unvoiced п changes to voiced б before voiced џ. The transformation follows specific patterns with voiced consonants (б→п, г→к, д→т, etc.) becoming unvoiced before unvoiced consonants and vice versa.

Find the original post here.

Assimilation Based on Place of Articulation

This transformation (Једначење сугласника по месту творбе) occurs in two main cases:

1. Dental consonants с and з become ш and ж before palatals (ч, ђ, ж, etc.). Example: лист > лишће (IT/EN: foglia/leaf > fogliame/foliage)
2. Н becomes м before б and п. Example: одбрана > одбрамбен (IT/EN: difesa/defence > difensivo/defensive)

This appears in passive participles, collective nouns, diminutives, and occurs with various suffixes, often after other transformations have already taken place.

Find the original post here.

First Palatalisation

This transformation happens when specific consonants appear before certain vowels:

1. Velar consonants (к, г, х) become (ч, ж, ш) before vowels е or и
2. Dental consonants (ц, з) transform into (ч, ж) in specific contexts

Here’s the table from the original post:

Original consonant	Transformed consonant
К, Ц	Ч
Г, З	Ж
Х	Ш

This occurs in vocative singular forms, certain verb conjugations, with derivation suffixes, and in plural forms of some body parts, with several notable exceptions.

Each transformation follows logical patterns designed to make Serbian pronunciation more fluid while maintaining the language’s phonetic spelling principle.

Examples: друг > друже; ловац > ловаче; јунак > јуначина; ухо > уши.

Second Palatalisation

The second palatalisation (сибиларизација/sibilarisation) occurs when consonants к, г, х come in contact with vowel и, transforming them into ц, з, с. This happens in:

• Feminine nouns ending in –ка, -га, -ха in dative and locative cases (рука → руци)
• Masculine plural nouns (ђак → ђаци/ђацима)
• Imperatives of verbs with stems ending in -к, г, х (пећи → пеци)

Exceptions include proper nouns, two-syllable words, feminine job titles, and certain consonant groups.

Find the original lesson here.

Iotation

Iotation (јотовање) occurs when the sound ј is preceded by non-palatal consonants, creating new palatal consonants. This affects:

• Comparative forms (млад → млађи)
• Verbal forms with infinitives ending in -ати (плакати → плачем)
• Passive past participles of verbs ending in -ити/-ети (мазити → мажен)
• Feminine nouns in instrumental case (глад → глађу)
• Words with derivation suffixes like -је, -јанин (здрав → здравље)

These phonetic transformations reflect Serbian’s rich linguistic evolution and demonstrate how the language optimises for easier pronunciation while maintaining meaning. Access the original post here.

Dissimilation of Consonants

This lesson explains how Serbian simplifies difficult-to-pronounce consonant clusters through dissimilation (упрошћавање сугласничких група). This occurs when:

• Two identical consonants appear adjacent to each other (one falls), for example: безсан > бессан > бесан (IT/EN: insonne/sleepless)
• During the declination of masculine nouns, consonants like т and д disappear before certain other consonants (ц, ч, ћ, ђ, џ). A most complex example is почетак > почеци (IT/EN: inizio/beginning in singular then plural nominative case), which passes through the moveable A, the second palatalisation, and finally the dissimilation of consonants.
• The consonants т and д can fall before -шт or in certain adjective forms (радостан > радос(т)на)
• The consonant с can fall when preceded by ћ, ч, ш, or ж in suffixes like -ски and -ство: монах > монашки.

The Moveable A

This transformation (непостојано А) involves the appearance or disappearance of the vowel “A” during declination. It usually happens:

• In masculine nouns, where the A appears only in nominative singular and genitive plural cases
• In foreign nouns ending in certain consonant clusters where the A is added in the genitive plural case
• In neuter and feminine nouns with specific consonant clusters, where the A reappears in the genitive plural case
• In some qualifying adjectives, the moveable A appears only in masculine nominative singular

Examples: притисак (pressione / pressure), пас (cane / dog), јутро (mattino / morning), and добар/добра/добро (buono / good).

Please find the original lesson here.

Transformation of L into O

This transformation (прелазак л у о) happens when the consonant л appears at the end of a word or syllable:

• In the nominative singular case of masculine nouns and some feminine nouns ending in -о
• In masculine adjectives in the nominative singular case
• In active past participle masculine singular forms
• In verb-derived nouns

Examples: сто (tavolo / table, originally стол), бео (bianco / white, originally бел), читао (letto / read), and читалац (lettore / reader).

Please find the original lesson here.

Final Phonetic Transformations

This final lesson covers three remaining transformations:

1. The Assimilation of vowels—when two different vowels appear next to each other, they become the same and one of them falls (e.g., мојега → мога)
2. The Dissimilation of vowels “E” and “O”—when two identical vowels would appear, they differentiate (e.g., with palatal consonants: ножеви instead of ножови)
3. Moveable vowels—vowels added to avoid consonant clashes between words:
   
   1. Vowel а in certain cases of adjectives and pronouns (кад → када)
   2. Vowel е in the dative and locative singular cases of short-form adjectives (мом(е))
   3. Vowel у in the dative and locative singular cases of long-form adjectives and pronouns (мојем(у)).

Bottom line

That’s it for today, and I hope you enjoyed it. In the next lesson, we will finally start a new chapter of our journey into the Serbian language. Watch this space to discover what it will be about! If you like what I do, please share this article with your peers.

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See you soon for another lesson!