Preservation and loss of a rare contrast: palatalization of rhotics in Slavic

This chapter discusses the rise and development of the cross-linguistically rare contrast between plain and palatalized rhotics in Slavic. We observe that the contrast, which developed as a result of yod-palatalization (jotation) in Common Slavic, has been preserved only in languages which introduced additional palatalized rhotics as a result of palatalization before front vowels. We argue that this correlation is not coincidental, but that the functional load of the contrast as well as its integration into a correlation of plain and palatalized consonants were instrumental for the preservation of the rare contrast. However, only a few of the languages which had originally preserved the contrast still have palatalized rhotics today. In others we find either loss or stabilization of the contrast by altering the palatalized rhotic. The proposed analysis sheds light on the factors potentially involved in the development of rare contrasts.