The verbal suffix *-nǫ-/-ny- in western South Slavic dialects

Abstract

The verbal class which is characterized by a suffix -nu- in the infinitive and -ne- in the present shows considerable dialectal diversity in Croatian and in the other western South Slavic languages. In many dialects, verbs belonging to this class have a suffix -ni- in the infinitive, aorist, participles and/or present. The aim of this paper is to explain how these dialectal forms and the relevant dialectal isoglosses have arisen. It argues that the allomorph -ni- < *-nywas originally found in the infinitive, while -nu- < *-nǫ- used to be restricted to the aorist.