Reconstruction talk:Proto-Slavic/osvětьlъ

Reason: "Proto-Slavic syllables can't end in -b, nor can they begin with bs-".

@CodeCat, okay you ignore ЭССЯ, but what about descendants? Examples you can find below this word in ЭССЯ: obsvěžiti - Polish obświeżyć; or above: obsvětьliti - Upper Sorbian wobswětlić, Lower Sorbian hobswětliś. I wonder where did you get this rule? We must stick to dictionaries. —Игорь Телкачь 18:59, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

This rule is generally accepted by all Slavic linguists as the "law of open syllables". Because it's so well established, if a reconstruction violates it, then it makes more sense to me to question the reconstruction than to question the law of open syllables. That said, there are some cases where prefixes appear to violate the rule, but this is not actually an exception. Rather, what apparently happened is that the prefix itself was changed (by the addition of a yer) so that the consonant could be restored. That is, the prefix was originally just ob-, but that form could only occur before vowels. Before consonants the -b- was lost because of the law of open syllables. In some cases, it appears that this alternation between loss and retention of the prefix consonant was "resolved" by adding a yer, so that the prefix became ob- before vowels and obъ- before consonants. It is from such a form that the Polish and Sorbian forms may have descended. But that is definitely post-Proto-Slavic. You can ask in WT:ES if you want to know more. —CodeCat 19:20, 26 November 2014 (UTC)