Illič-Svityč's law


In linguistics, Illič-Svityč's law refers to two Proto-Slavic rules, named after Vladislav Illich-Svitych who first identified and explained them.

Neuter o-stems

Proto-Slavic neuter o-stems with fixed accent on a non-acute root become masculines, retaining the accent paradigm. Compare:
This rule is important because it operated after the influx of Proto-Germanic/Gothic thematic neuters, which all became masculines in Proto-Slavic. Late Proto-Germanic had fixed accent on the first syllable. Compare:
Proto-Slavic masculine o-stems with fixed accent on a non-acute root become mobile-accent. This change is also termed "Holzer's metatony", after linguist Georg Holzer who described it.
Older literature suggests that this was not a Common Slavic innovation, and that there are exceptions in some Croatian Čakavian dialects of Susak and Istria, which have retained the original accentuation. This has been recently disputed.