Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15291/csi.4301
Umlaut and Dissimilation in Male Names and Appellatives Ending in -ej Borrowed from Foreign Languages
Edita Medić
; University of Zadar, Department of Croatian Studies, Zadar, Croatia
Iva Babić
orcid.org/0000-0003-2788-7943
; University of Zadar, Department of Teacher and Preschool Teacher Education, Zadar, Croatia
Marijana Bašić
orcid.org/0000-0002-4623-6209
; University of Zadar, Department of Croatian Studies, Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
The article discusses the umlaut and dissimilation of male
first names affiliated to a-declension ending in the palatal j
and preceded by the vowel a. This is illustrated by the use of
male names of foreign origin such as Matej, Sergej, Aleksej,
Tomej, Andrej, Ptolemej, Pompej, Tezej to which a grammatical
morpheme -em is added in the instrumental singular,
whereas the possessive adjectives of these names are formed
by the suffix -ev. Handbooks of Language Standardization
adopt the rules of dissimilation/umlaut for common nouns,
but not for first names. An umlaut is commonly used when
male first names end in a palatal regardless of the vowel e
preceding the palatal which requires dissimilation in monosyllabic
and disyllabic common nouns. Therefore, dissimilation
is generally not used with the listed first names. Such a
linguistic situation in which dissimilation is not used regardless
of the rule is compared with umlaut and dissimilation in
appellatives borrowed from foreign languages also ending
in -ej. However, notwithstanding the systematic enforcement
of the no-umlaut rule when the vowel e precedes the
palatal, in some cases, even with the appellative, it does not
happen (i.e., sprej > sprejem, temelj > temeljem). Therefore, names or appellatives ending in -ej with the target form in
the instrumental singular, one possessive adjective in the
nominative singular, as well as three examples of personal
names in the instrumental singular ending in -om. The collected
data was then analysed with regard to the (non)performance
of umlaut and dissimilation. The analysis has shown
the use of umlaut in the given examples, while dissimilation
in two-syllable words is much less common.
Keywords
appellatives; Croatian language; dissimilation; names; umlaut
Hrčak ID:
312258
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2023.
Visits: 215 *