[ʃ]→[ʂ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Voiceless postalveolar fricative to Voiceless retroflex fricative

The retraction of the voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ] to the voiceless retroflex fricative [ʂ]. This process of 'hardening' was a major historical shift in several Slavic languages.

Phonetic Effects

Retraction, Hardening, Depalatalization

Language Examples

Polish Slavic

Old Polish [ʃʲ]→Modern Polish [ʂ]— The hardening of historical soft sibilants into retroflexes.

Russian Slavic

Old Russian [ʃʲ]→Modern Russian [ʂ]— The transition from a palatalized sibilant to a 'hard' retroflex fricative.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Slavic Shifts

[a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction [dʲ] → [dʒ] — Affrication [d] → [dʑ] — Palatalization [e] → [i] — Vowel Raising [e] → [o] — Backing

Sources & References

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