Some remarks on gemination in Ossetic
Résumé
Ossetic is known for many instances of gemination, which has arisen several times in its history. A particular problem is the treatment of the old intervocalic consonant group *-Ci-. The outcome was an assimilated geminate consonant cluster ( > *-CC-). However, in several Ossetic forms a single consonant may be noted, if this consonant is followed by an etymologically short vowel. The reason for simplification may be attributed to the influence of the accent. The geminate consonant has been preserved before an etymologically long vowel, which probably carried the accent. Simplification of the geminate consonant cluster has taken place in the position before a short vowel, which may have caused retraction of the accent.