Sposoby realizacji „u” niezgłoskotwórczego w piśmiennictwie starobiałoruskim (na przykładzie wybranych latopisów białorusko‑litewskich)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the means of implementation of nonsyllabic [u̯] in the spelling of selected monuments of Old Belorussian writing representing the first and the second compilations of Belorussian-Lithuanian chronicles. The texts of the following chronicles have been analyzed: the Supraśl (1519), the Slutsk (the first quarter of the 16th century), the Academic (the 30s of the 16th-century) as well as the Krasińskis’ (the oldest chronicle of the second compilation), the Raczyńskis’ (circa 1582) and the Rumiancew (the end of the 17th century). This article discusses phonetic and morphological reasons for the alteration [ł] > [u̯], [v], [u] > [u̯] and presents examples of these changes in the chronicles. In all the monuments the pronunciation of [u̯] is expressed inconsistently; there are parallel spellings. It must be emphasized that the richest research material in respect of written implementation of pronunciation of [u̯] can be found in the oldest Belorussian-Lithuanian chronicles representing the first compilation and the Krasinskis’ Chronicle, which is the oldest copy of the second compilation.