Bulgarian, Slovene: etymological explanation for why oko is stressed on the second syllable

[Saimdusan]

In East Slavic the first syllable is stressed.

In Serbo-Croatian the first syllable is stressed and there is a falling accent, which generally means that the position of the accent hasn't changed over time.

Wiktionary also cites Derksen (2008) as saying that the reconstructed proto-Slavic form is ȍko, so with a short falling accent on the first syllable, like in modern Serbo-Croatian.

Have Bulgarian and Slovene developed this form independently, and if so is there some mechanism to explain it; i.e. are there any similar words that this sound change affects?

Thank you.

 

[Panceltic]

I am not sure about Bulgarian, but the long falling (circumflex) accent regularly shifts to the right in Slovenian.

Oko, zlato, meso, polje (archaically), srebro, telo, pero, srce, črevo .... are all stressed on the final syllable in Slovenian.

 

[nimak]

I think the same situation is with the word "ear", Slovenian "uhó", Bulgarian "ухó (uhó)".

In most of the Macedonian dialects and in Standard Macedonian it is "óко (óko)", and "ýво (úvo)".

 

[DarkChild]

I am not sure about Bulgarian, but the long falling (circumflex) accent regularly shifts to the right in Slovenian.

Oko, zlato, meso, polje (archaically), srebro, telo, pero, srce, črevo .... are all stressed on the final syllable in Slovenian.

All of these are the same in Bulgarian, except for zlato, although you can hear it stressed on the second syllable sometimes. Also, telo is pronounced on the second syllable (Standard word is tyalo, on first syllable).

 

[Zec]

According to a book I've read, Bulgarian final stress in these words is not at all related to the Slovene one and is a result of rather complex developments. It is essentially the result of analogy: stress of indefinite forms was levelled after the stress of definite forms.

1. mèso - mesotò (the oldest state of affairs)
2. mèso - mesòto (retraction of stress from final open syllables, affecting the definite form)
3. mesò - mesòto (analogical levelling of stress)

Given that it's an analogical development, it's no wonder there's exceptions here and there, like the abovementioned zlato and tyalo.

 

[Eirwyn]

1. mèso - mesotò (the oldest state of affairs)
2. mèso - mesòto (retraction of stress from final open syllables, affecting the definite form)

Interesting. So, in Bulgarian original accent paradigm b and accent paradigm c words with one syllable stem became indistinguishable from each other at some point? Now I understand why Andrei Zalizniak claimed East Slavic languages to be the most conservative when it comes to stress placement.

 

[GrayRogue]

Interestingly, northeastern Slovenian dialects, like the Styrian and Prekmurje dialects, stress these words on the first syllable: oka (vs oko)/uha (vs uho) and vüho/-a (vs uho), respectivelly. The Standard Slovenian oko is pronounced as okou in Prekmurje dialect, though, I believe.

Most of the mentioned words are also stressed on the first syllable in the Styrian dialect: zlato (vs zlato), meso (vs meso), srebro (vs srebro), srce (vs srce), čreva (vs črevo). Telo and pero are pronounced the same, though (stress on the second/final syllable).