{"history":[],"article":{"id":"f855e9bb-19cd-4d5e-a872-f9140bf2c13e","title":"Winter's law","slug":"winter-s-law","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \n**Winter's law**, named after [Werner Winter](https://bliptext.com/articles/werner-winter-linguist), who postulated it in 1978, is a proposed [sound law](https://bliptext.com/articles/sound-law) operating on [Balto-Slavic](https://bliptext.com/articles/balto-slavic-language) short [vowels](https://bliptext.com/articles/vowels) */e/, */o/, */a/ (< [Proto-Indo-European](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-indo-european-language) (PIE) *h₂e), */i/ and */u/ according to which they lengthen before unaspirated voiced stops, and that syllable gains a rising, acute accent.\nCompare:\nWinter's law distinguishes the Balto-Slavic reflexes of PIE */b/, */d/, */g/, */gʷ/ (before which Winter's law operates in closed syllables) and PIE */bʰ/, */dʰ/, */gʰ/, */gʷʰ/ (before which there is no effect of Winter's law).\nTherefore in relative chronology, Winter's law operated before PIE aspirated stops */bʰ/, */dʰ/, */gʰ/ merged with PIE plain voiced stops */b/, */d/, */g/ in Balto-Slavic.\nSecondarily, it distinguishes the reflexes of PIE *h₂e > */a/ and PIE */o/ which otherwise merged to */a/ in Balto-Slavic.\nWinter's law lengthened old */a/ (< PIE *h₂e) into Balto-Slavic */ā/ (> Lithuanian /o/, Latvian /ā/, OCS /a/) and old */o/ into Balto-Slavic */ō/ (> Lithuanian and Latvian uo, but OCS /a/).\nA later Common Slavic innovation merged the reflexes of Balto-Slavic */ā/ and */ō/ into OCS /a/, so Winter's law operated before the common Balto-Slavic change */o/ > */a/.\nThe original formulation claimed vowels regularly lengthened in front of PIE voiced stops in all environments.\nWhile numerous examples supported this, many counterexamples existed such as OCS stogъ \"stack\" < PBS *stagas < PIE *stógos, OCS [voda](https://bliptext.com/articles/) \"water\" < PBS *wadō < PIE * (collective noun formed from PIE *).\n[Matasović](https://bliptext.com/articles/ranko-matasovi) adjusted Winter's law in 1994 to operate only on closed syllables, which was used in the [Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben](https://bliptext.com/articles/lexikon-der-indogermanischen-verben).\n[Kortlandt](https://bliptext.com/articles/frederik-kortlandt), Shintani, [Rasmussen](https://bliptext.com/articles/jens-elmeg-rd-rasmussen), [Dybo](https://bliptext.com/articles/vladimir-dybo) and Holst vary the blocking mechanism differently.\n\n# Criticism\nNot all Balto-Slavic historical linguists accept Winter's law.\nPatri (2006) found that exceptions to the law create a too heterogeneous and voluminous set of data to allow any phonological generalization into a law.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T10:50:21.189Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T10:50:21.189Z","search_vector":"'law':3 'winter':1","search_content":" \n \n\n# \n**Winter's law**, named after [Werner Winter](https://bliptext.com/articles/werner-winter-linguist), who postulated it in 1978, is a proposed [sound law](https://bliptext.com/articles/sound-law) operating on [Balto-Slavic](https://bliptext.com/articles/balto-slavic-language) short [vowels](https://bliptext.com/articles/vowels) */e/, */o/, */a/ ( */a/ and PIE */o/ which otherwise merged to */a/ in Balto-Slavic.\nWinter's law lengthened old */a/ ( Lithuanian /o/, Latvian /ā/, OCS /a/) and old */o/ into Balto-Slavic */ō/ (> Lithuanian and Latvian uo, but OCS /a/).\nA later Common Slavic innovation merged the reflexes of Balto-Slavic */ā/ and */ō/ into OCS /a/, so Winter's law operated before the common Balto-Slavic change */o/ > */a/.\nThe original formulation claimed vowels regularly lengthened in front of PIE voiced stops in all environments.\nWhile numerous examples supported this, many counterexamples existed such as OCS stogъ \"stack\" < PBS *stagas < PIE *stógos, OCS [voda](https://bliptext.com/articles/) \"water\" < PBS *wadō < PIE * (collective noun formed from PIE *).\n[Matasović](https://bliptext.com/articles/ranko-matasovi) adjusted Winter's law in 1994 to operate only on closed syllables, which was used in the [Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben](https://bliptext.com/articles/lexikon-der-indogermanischen-verben).\n[Kortlandt](https://bliptext.com/articles/frederik-kortlandt), Shintani, [Rasmussen](https://bliptext.com/articles/jens-elmeg-rd-rasmussen), [Dybo](https://bliptext.com/articles/vladimir-dybo) and Holst vary the blocking mechanism differently.\n\n# Criticism\nNot all Balto-Slavic historical linguists accept Winter's law.\nPatri (2006) found that exceptions to the law create a too heterogeneous and voluminous set of data to allow any phonological generalization into a law.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

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