Slavic first palatalization - Wikipedia
Motivation. An important tendency in Proto-Slavic – one which also operated throughout the Common Slavic period (ca. 300–1000 CE) and was the direct cause of the first palatalization – was so-called intrasyllabic synharmony. [citation needed]Such intrasyllabic synharmony is said to be violated if a velar consonant occurs before a front (palatal) vowel, as the former is …