On the Reflection of Unaccented Length and the Short Neo-Acute in Slavic, the kȍkōt Type Lengthening in Štokavian/Čakavian and Other Issues

Abstract

This is the sixth instalment in the discussion between Frederik Kortlandt and the author of this article on several problems of historical Slavic accentology. The paper discusses the reflection of pre- and posttonic length (in accentual paradigm a and c) in Western South Slavic and West Slavic, the reflection of the short neo-acute in Kajkavian and Czech, and the kȍkōt ‘rooster’ type lengthening in accentual paradigm c in Štokavian and Čakavian. A few other topics are also shortly discussed – such as the accent of the genitive plural, the *obőrna ‘defence’ type accent, and the Čakavian črnĩna ‘blackness’ and dvorĩšće ‘courtyard’ type accent. Additionally, the paper deals with some issues concerning Kortlandt’s rather problematic methodology, rhetorics, discussion and presentation style.