Old Novgorod dialect
Old Novgorod dialect is a term introduced by Andrey Zaliznyak to describe the dialect found in the Old East Slavic birch bark writings. Dating from the 11th to 15th centuries, the letters were excavated in Novgorod and its surroundings.
For linguists, Old Novgorodian is particularly of interest in that it has retained some archaic features which were lost in other Slavic dialects, such as the absence of second palatalization. Furthermore, letters provide unique evidence of the Slavic vernacular, as opposed to the Church Slavonic which dominated the written literature of the period. Most of the letters feature everyday business and personal correspondence, instructions, complaints, news, reminders etc. Such widespread usage indicates a high level of literacy, including among women and children. For language history the notes are also valuable because they retain original spelling of the time as they were not copied, rewritten or edited by later scribes unlike copied chronicles where over the centuries spelling may have been changing from the changes in scribes' speech.
Today, the study of Novgorodian birch bark letters is an established scholarly field in Russian historical linguistics, with far-ranging historical and archaeological implications for the study of the Russian Middle Ages.
History
The first birch bark letter was found on July 26, 1951 by Nina Fedorovna Akulova. At least 1025 have been unearthed since, 923 in Novgorod alone. Almost all of them were written with styluses of bronze and iron, and never ink. The letters were preserved due to the swampy soil which isolated them from oxygen. Many letters are found buried amidst the layers under streets which were previously paved with logs.Linguistic features
The short birch-bark texts are written in a peculiar Slavic vernacular, reflecting living speech, and almost entirely free of the heavy Church Slavonic influence seen in the literary language of the period. Some of the observed linguistic features are not found in any other Slavic dialect, representing important Proto-Slavic archaisms.Zaliznyak differentiates the Old Novgorod features that were already known before the discovery of the birch bark letters and those that have been ascertained after their study during the last few decades such as these:
- tsokanye
- secondary pleophony, e.g. мълъвити as opposed to мълвити
- retention of stem-final *x in Proto-Slavic *vьx- "all" whereas other Slavic languages have undergone the third progressive palatalization, e.g. вьхо
- lack of the Slavic second palatalization in root-final position, e.g. рукѣ, моги
- the change vl’ > l’, e.g. Яколь, Яковлев
- nominative singular masculine of o-stems -e, e.g. Иване, посаднике, хлѣбе
- genitive singular of а-stems in "soft" -ě, instead of the "hard" -y, e.g. бес кунѣ. The same substitution is found in accusative plural of o-stems and a-stems.
- replacement of "hard" и by their "soft" counterparts in other non-nominal cases, such as the dual and plural of the imperative, nominative singular masculine of the present active participle, and pronominal endings
- absence of palatalization of the stem with the new -ѣ and -и desinences, as in Old East Slavic
- nominative-accusative plural of а-stems in -ě, e.g. кобылѣ, сиротѣ
- lack of the second palatalization in root-initial position, e.g. кѣл-, хѣр-
- a particular reflex of Proto-Slavic *TьRT, *TъRT clusters, yielding TьRьT, TъRъT. However, in some dialects these yielded TroT, TreT.
- West-Slavic-like reflex of *TоRT clusters, e.g. погродье versus погородие
- the change ml’ > n’, e.g. емлючи > енючи
- no merger of nominative and accusative singular of masculines regardless of animacy, e.g. Nom. sg. погосте : Acc. sg. на погостъ
- Proto-Slavic *kv, *gv clusters were retained instead of being transformed to cv, zv before front vowels as in other East Slavic dialects
The Novgorod material is divided by Zaliznyak into seven chronological groups:
| Class | Period |
| A | XI - first quarter of the 12th century |
| B I | approx. 1125 - 1160 |
| B II | approx. 1125 - 1160 |
| C | 1220s - 1290s |
| D I | approx. 1300 - 1360 |
| D II | approx. 1360 - 1400 |
| E | 15th century |
Implications of Old Novgorod findings
According to Zaliznyak, the Old Novgorod linguistic features, instead of being merely isolated deviations, represent a bundle of peculiar isoglosses. The deviations are more abundant in older birch bark letters than in the more recent finds. This fact indicates, contrary to what may be expected, that the development was convergent rather than divergent, with regard to other northern East Slavic dialects.According to Zaliznyak, the discovery of Old Novgorod dialect suggests that earlier conceptions which held East Slavic as a relatively homogeneous linguistic grouping, have been dispelled by a view advancing it instead as an area of much greater dialectal diversity. Zaliznyak divides the East Slavic area into two dialectal groupings: Proto-Novgorodian-Pskovian on one side, singled out chiefly on the basis of two instances lacking second palatalization of velars and the ending -e in nominative singular of masculine o-stems, and all the remaining East Slavic dialects on the other.
Examples
A criminal case: Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 109http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/109 Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 109
Original text :
грамота ѡтъ жизномира къ микоуле
коупилъ еси робоу плъскове а ныне мѧ
въ томъ ѧла кънѧгыни а ныне сѧ дроужина по мѧ пороучила а ныне ка посъли къ томоу моужеви грамотоу е ли
оу него роба а се ти хочоу коне коупивъ и кънѧжъ моужъ въсадивъ та на съводы а ты атче еси не възалъ коунъ
техъ а не емли ничъто же оу него
Transliteration:
gramota otŭ žiznomira kŭ mikule
kupilŭ esi robu plŭskove a nyne mę
vŭ tomŭ ęla kŭnęgyni a nyne sę družina po mę poručila a nyne ka posŭli kŭ tomu muževi gramotu e li
u nego roba a se ti xoču kone kupivŭ i kŭnęžŭ mužŭ vŭcadivŭ ta na sŭvody a ty atče esi ne vŭzalŭ kunŭ
texŭ a ne emli ničŭto že u nego
Translation :
Letter from Zhiznomir to Mikula: You have bought a female slave in Pskov. And now the princess has arrested me for it. But now druzhina has guaranteed for me. And now send a letter to that man and ask him whether he has another female slave. And I want to buy a horse and have the magistrate sit on it and initiate a svod. And if you have not taken the money, do not take anything from him.
An invitation: Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 497http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/497 Novgorod birch-bark letter no. 497
Original text :
поколоно ѿ гаврили ѿ посени ко зати моемоу ко горигори жи коумоу ко сестори моеи ко оулите чо би есте поихали во городо ко радости моеи а нашего солова не ѡставили да бого вамо радосте ми вашего солова вохи не ѡсотавимо
Transliteration:
pokolono ot gavrili ot poseni ko zati mojemu ko gorigori ži kumu ko sestori mojei ko ulite čo bi este poixali vo gorodo ko radosti mojei a našego solova ne ostavili da bogo vamo radoste mi vašego solova voxi ne osotavimo
Translation:
Greeting from Gavrila Posenya to my brother-in-law, godfather Grigory, and my sister Ulita. Would you not like to give me the pleasure of riding into the city, not leaving our word? God give you happiness. We all do not leave your word.