Veslovian/Phonology

Northern dialect

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/ ⟨m⟩	/n/ ⟨n⟩	/ɲ/ ⟨ň⟩
Plosive	Voiceless	/p/ ⟨p⟩	/t/ ⟨t⟩	/c/ ⟨ť⟩	/k/ ⟨k⟩
	Voiced	/b/ ⟨b⟩	/d/ ⟨d⟩	/ɟ/ ⟨ď⟩	/ɡ/ ⟨g⟩
Affricate	Voiceless		/ts/ ⟨c⟩	/tʃ/ ⟨č⟩
	Voiced		/dz/ ⟨dz⟩	/dʒ/ ⟨dž⟩
Fricative	Voiceless	/f/ ⟨f⟩	/s/ ⟨s⟩	/ʃ/ ⟨š⟩	/x/ ⟨ch⟩
	Voiced	/v/ ⟨v⟩	/z/ ⟨z⟩	/ʒ/ ⟨ž⟩		/ɦ/ ⟨h⟩
Trill	Plain		/r/ ⟨r⟩
	Fricative		/r̝/ ⟨ř⟩
Approximant			/l/ ⟨l⟩	/j/

Vowels

	Back		Central		Front
	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close	/ɪ/	/iː/			/u/	/uː/
Mid	/ɛ/	/ɛː/			/ɔ/	/ɔː/
Open			/a/	/aː/

Stress

Words are stressed in the first syllable, except when a preposition precedes a noun or adjective, the preposition was stressed instead (Mrakovr → jí Mrakoverž "Marcover, in Marcover (cf. Maribor)").

Alterations

Lengthening

When followed by syllables historically containing yers (*-ь- or *-ъ-) that later deleted, the vowels except yers itself are lengthened, or become diphthongs instead.

Northern		Southern
Short grade	Long grade	Short grade	Long grade
a	á	a	á
e	é	e	é
	í		ẹ́
ě	í		é
i		i	í
o	ů	o	ọ́
u	ou	u	ú

Phonetic developments

Middle Proto-Germanic to Proto-South Germanic

• Reversal of certain fricatives developed by Grimm's law. The phonemes *h including Grimm devoiced ones are still preserved (*h and *x only differ in notation as it mimics the Proto-Slavic one). Consonant clusters are similarly affected, but often in complex ways.

Proto-Germanic	*f		*h		*þ
Proto-South Germanic	*p		*x, *š		*t
Proto-Germanic	*fs	*ft	*hs	*ht	*ss
Proto-South Germanic	*s (< *ps)	*t (< *pt)	*š (< *ks)	*ť (< *kt)	*s (< *ss)

• Irregular late Proto-South Germanic form of second person singular ending *-ešь was formed by analogy with the corresponding Proto-Slavic counterpart *-eši.
• First palatalization: palatalizations of velars before *-i-, *-ī-, *-e- and *-ē-.

Unpalatalized	-k-	-g-	-x-
Palatalized	-č-	-ž-	-š-

• Second palatalization: palatalizations of velars before *-ai-. However, the outcomes are not uniform.

Unpalatalized		-k-	-g-	-x-
Palatalized	Northern	-c-	-dz-	-š-
	Western	-c-	-dz-	-š-
	Southern	-c-	-z-	-s-