[ʂ]→[x]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 3/5
Voiceless retroflex fricative to Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless retroflex sibilant [ʂ] — the value of Russian ш and of the ruki sibilant in the satem languages — backs to the voiceless velar fricative [x] through retraction and loss of sibilance. It is visible as a living dialect cline in Pashto and, in deep time, as the Indo-European ruki outcome that separates Indic (which keeps [ʂ]) from Slavic (which retracted it to [x]).
Phonetic Effects
Backing, Retraction
Language Examples
پښتو [pəʂˈto]→[pəxˈto]— The letter ښ is [ʂ] in the conservative Southwestern (Kandahar) dialect, [ç] in the Northwest, and [x] in the Northeastern dialects (Kabul, Peshawar, Jalalabad). The language name itself is [pəʂˈto] in Kandahar but [pəxˈto] in Kabul, a medieval fortition of the retroflex fricative used as the primary marker of Pashto dialect zones.
ruki *ṣ [ʂ]→*x— The ruki sibilant was retroflex-like before Slavic retracted it to velar *x, whereas Indic kept [ʂ] (Sanskrit ष). From PIE *wers- 'top': Sanskrit várṣman- [ʂ] 'height, summit' beside Proto-Slavic *vьrxъ → Russian верх [vʲerx].
Related Transformations
More Backing Shifts
Sources & References
- David, A. B. (2014). Descriptive Grammar of Pashto and its Dialects. De Gruyter Mouton.
- Henderson, M. M. T. (1983). Four Varieties of Pashto. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 103(3), 595–597.
- Collinge, N. E. (1985). The Laws of Indo-European. John Benjamins.
- Shevelov, G. Y. (1964). A Prehistory of Slavic. Carl Winter.
Spotted a mistake or have a better example?
EchoDrift is community-driven. You can suggest a change directly through GitHub.
Propose an Edit on GitHub