Altaic Parallels to the Loss of the Slavic Reduced Vowels

Abstract

Almost a century ago E. D. Polivanov noted that processes similar to the loss of the Slavic reduced vowels are also observed in many eastern languages. This article analyses typological parallels from the Altaic languages - Mongolian, Turkic, as well as Korean and Japanese. The primary focus is given to vowel reduction (lowering of their height, devoicing or complete disappearance) and the development of soft correlation of consonants, as these phenomena resemble the Slavic processes, in varying degrees. Although no Altaic language has a complete analogue to the loss of the Slavic reduced vowels, data from these languages help to better understand certain aspects of this process. In the Altaic languages, a tendency towards the reduction of high vowels is observed: in Buryat, Uzbek, Kazakh, Tatar, Bashkir and Chuvash this is manifested in the lowering of the height, and in devoicing in Turkish, Uyghur, Korean and Japanese. However, unlike the Slavic languages, the lowering of the height here is not associated with a qualitative change in the vowels. The devoicing of vowels in the Altaic languages only partly resembles the Slavic processes, since it mainly occurs between voiceless consonants and primarily affects unstressed vowels. Nevertheless, the examples of Turkish and Japanese are important for demonstrating that variants with and without devoicing / disappearance of vowels can coexist in one language, depending on the tempo of speech. As for consonants, the closest parallel to the Slavic changes is observed in Khalkha-Mongolian, where the disappearance of the vowel *i left a trace in the form of palatalization of the preceding consonant.

Received 10 May 2025

Revised 22 September 2025

Accepted 23 October 2025

For citation: Saenko, M. N., 2025. Altaic Parallels to the Loss of the Slavic Reduced Vowels. Slavic World in the Third Millennium, 20 (3–4), pp. 125–143. https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-6446.2025.20.3-4.06