"Lukerya's eff ect": the [ol] > [o] transition in the history of Russian

Abstract

The article describes a previously unknown phonetic feature of Old Nov-gorod dialect - transition of [ol] to [o] in closed syllables. Twice attested by the birchbark letter № 1102, this feature, as it turned out, is also refl ected by other birchbark documents in which it has not so far been identifi ed. The analysis of dialectal data shows that [ol] > [o] transition in closed syllables was not limited to the dialect of Old Novgorod but took place in many North Russian dialects as well.