1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution
  4. Volume 70, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 70, Issue 2
  • ISSN 0108-8416
  • E-ISSN: 2212-9715
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

With the application of the Contrastive Hierarchy Theory, the contrastive features of preliterary Scandinavian vowels are here inferred from the interaction between targets and triggers for metaphonic fronting, rounding and breaking. One Proto-Scandinavian feature hierarchy is reconstructed for prominent syllables and another for non-prominent ones. The former hierarchy sustained contrasts that differed from the latter, including contrast for rounding and a preserved distinction between Pre-Germanic */i/ and */e/. A prominence system is reconstructed that predicts both the outcome of syncope and the distribution of the two vowel systems between syllables. The analysis neatly accounts for many notorious cruxes of umlaut and breaking that correlate with the prosodic position of the trigger, including the frequent absence of -umlaut in light syllables.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/nowele.70.2.03sch
2017-09-19
2021-12-03

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/nowele.70.2.03sch
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. AEW = J. de Vries 1962 Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (2nd rev. ed.) Leiden: Brill.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. ANF = Arkiv för nordisk filologi
     [Google Scholar]
  3. CFH = “Contrastive feature hierarchy”
     [Google Scholar]
  4. CHT = “Contrastive Hierarchy Theory”
     [Google Scholar]
  5. DEO = N. Å. Nielsen 1985 (1966) Dansk etymologisk ordbog: ordenes historie. (4. oplag). København: Gyldendal.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. EDPG = G. Kroonen 2013 Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic. Leiden: Brill.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. IPFC = “Inalterability of Proper Features Constraint” (see subsection 3.2 )
     [Google Scholar]
  8. LägLoS = A. D. Kylstra , S. -L. Hahmo , T. Hofstra & O. Nikkilä . Lexikon der älteren germanischen Lehnwörter in den ostseefinnischen SprachenI-III (I:A-J 1991,; II:K-O 1996; III:P-Ö 2012). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. PEO = J. Katlev 2000 Politikens Etymologiske Ordbog: Danske Ords Historie. København: Politikens Forlag.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. PIE = “Proto-Indo-European”
     [Google Scholar]
  11. SEO = E. Hellqvist 1980 [1922] Svensk etymologisk ordbok (3:e uppl.). Lund.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. VAOE = H. Bjorvand & F. O. Lindeman 2007 [2000] Våre arveord. Etymologisk ordbok. (2. utg.). Oslo: Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning, Novus.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Antonsen, E. H.
    1972 The Proto-Germanic Syllabics (Vowels). In F. van Coetsem and H. L. Kufner (eds.), Toward a Grammar of Proto-Germanic, 117–140. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. doi: 10.1515/9783111549040.117
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111549040.117 [Google Scholar]
  14. 1975 A Concise Grammar of the Older Runic Inscriptions. Tübingen: Niemeyer. doi: 10.1515/9783111411583
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111411583 [Google Scholar]
  15. Basbøll, H.
    1993 The Nordic i-Umlaut and Natural Principles of Syllabification. A Possible Scenario?NOWELE21/22.37–52. doi: 10.1075/nowele.21‑22.04bas
     https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.21-22.04bas [Google Scholar]
  16. Benediktsson, Hreinn
    1963 Some Aspects of Nordic Umlaut and Breaking. Language39.409–431. doi: 10.2307/411124
     https://doi.org/10.2307/411124 [Google Scholar]
  17. 1967 The Proto-Germanic Vowel System. InTo Honor Roman Jakobson: Essays on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, 11 October 1966. VolumeI, 174–196. The Hague & Paris: Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. 1974 The Common Nordic Vowel System. Scandinavian Studies46.89–101.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. 1982 Nordic Umlaut and Breaking: Thirty Years of Research (1951–1980). Nordic Journal of Linguistics5.1–60. doi: 10.1017/S0332586500000809
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0332586500000809 [Google Scholar]
  20. 2002 [1970] Aspects of Historical Phonology. In Guðrún Þórhallsdóttir et al. (eds.), Linguistic Studies, Historical and Comparative. Reykjavík: Institute of Linguistics, 190–213.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Bibire, P.
    1975 Some Notes on Old Icelandic Front Mutations. ANF90.183–212.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Birkmann, T.
    1995 Von Ågedal bis Malt. Die skandinavischen Runeninschriften vom Ende des 5. bis Ende des 9. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: de Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110893298
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110893298 [Google Scholar]
  23. Braroe, E. Ejerhed
    1979 Exceptions to Old Icelandic i-Umlaut. Studia Linguistica (A Journal of General Linguistics)33/1.43–56. doi: 10.1111/j.1467‑9582.1979.tb00675.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9582.1979.tb00675.x [Google Scholar]
  24. Calabrese, A.
    1998 Metaphony Revisited. In J. I. Hualde , Metaphony and Vowel Harmony in Romance and Beyond. Special Issue of the Rivista di Linguistica10, 7–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. 2005 Markedness and Economy in a Derivational Model of Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110197600
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197600 [Google Scholar]
  26. Compton, R. & B. E. Dresher
    2011 Palatalization and “Strong i” across Inuit Dialects. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique56(2). 203–228. doi: 10.1353/cjl.2011.0020
     https://doi.org/10.1353/cjl.2011.0020 [Google Scholar]
  27. Dresher, B. E.
    2008 The Contrastive Hierarchy in Phonology. In P. Avery , B. E. Dresher & K. Rice (eds.), Contrast in Phonology: Theory, Perception, Acquisition, 11–33. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Available athomes.chass.utoronto.ca/~dresher/papers/ADR%20Dresher.pdf 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  28. 2009 The Contrastive Hierarchy in Phonology. Cambridge, New York etc: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511642005
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511642005 [Google Scholar]
  29. 2015a Contrastive Hierarchy Theory: An Overview. The combined slides presented at talks in the Linguistics Colloquium Series, University of Connecticut, February 2015, and the Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, September 2015. Part 1 & Part 2. Available athomes.chass.utoronto.ca/~dresher/publications.html#Talks 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  30. 2015b Contrastive Feature Hierarchies in Diachronic Phonology. Presentation of slides for the Annual General Meeting of the Philological Society, Jesus College, University of Cambridge, June 2015. Available athomes.chass.utoronto.ca/~dresher/talks/PhilSoc_2015_talk_slides.pdf 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Dyvik, H. J. J.
    1978 Breaking in Old Norse and Related Languages: A Reassessment of the Phonetic Conditions. ANF93.1–37.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Flemming, E.
    2003 The Relationship between Coronal Place and Vowel Backness. Phonology20(3).335–373. doi: 10.1017/S0952675704000041
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675704000041 [Google Scholar]
  33. Grønvik, O.
    1998 Untersuchungen zur älteren nordischen und germanischen Sprachgeschichte. Frankfurt am Main etc: Peter Lang.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Hall, D. C.
    2007 The Role and Representation of Contrast in Phonological Theory. Ph.D. dissertation. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics. Toronto: University of Toronto. Available attwpl.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/twpl/article/view/6497 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  35. 2011 Phonological Contrast and its Phonetic Enhancement: Dispersedness without Dispersion. Phonology28(1).1–54 doi: 10.1017/S0952675711000029
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675711000029 [Google Scholar]
  36. Harding, E.
    1952 Något om omljud och brytning i nordiskan. ANF67.198–211.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Haugen, E.
    1969 Phonemic Indeterminacy and Scandinavian Umlaut. Folia Linguistica3(1–2).107–119.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. 1982 Scandinavian Language Structures: A Comparative Historical Survey. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Hesselman, B.
    1945 Omljud och brytning i de nordiska språken. Förstudier till en nordisk språkhistoria. Stockholm: H. Geber & Köpenhamn: E. Munksgaard.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Hofstra, T.
    1985 Ostseefinnisch und Germanisch: Frühe Lehnbeziehungen im nördlichen Ostseeraum im Lichte der Forschung seit 1961. Ph.D. dissertation. Groningen: van Denderen.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Hreinn Benediktsson
    . See Benediktsson, Hreinn.
  42. Hulst, H. van der
    1999 Word Accent. In H. van der Hulst (ed.), Word Prosodic Systems in the Languages of Europe, 3–116. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Iverson, G. K. & J. C. Salmons
    2012 Paradigm Resolution in the Life Cycle of Norse Umlaut. Journal of Germanic Linguistics24(2).101–131. doi: 10.1017/S1470542712000013
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S1470542712000013 [Google Scholar]
  44. Jakobson, R. & M. Halle
    1956 Fundamentals of Language. ’s-Gravenhage: Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Johnsen, S. Stausland
    2003 Ljodsamhøvet i AM 315 f fol. ANF118.47–75.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. 2005 The Germanic (i)jō-stem Declension: Origin and development. M. Phil. dissertation. University of Oslo. Available atfolk.uio.no/sverrej/ 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Kallio, P.
    1998 "Kalja". Sananjalka40.87–94.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Kiparsky, P.
    2009a Syncope, Umlaut, and Prosodic Structure in Early Germanic. Unpublished manuscript. Stanford University. Available atweb.stanford.edu/~kiparsky/#recent-papers 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  49. 2009b The Germanic Weak Preterite. In P. O. Steinkrüger and M. Krifka (eds.), On Inflection. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Available atweb.stanford.edu/~kiparsky/#recent-papers 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  50. 2015 Phonologization. P. Honeybone & J. Salmons (eds.), The Handbook of Historical Phonology, 563–582. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available atweb.stanford.edu/~kiparsky/#recent-papers 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Ko, S.
    2012 Tongue Root Harmony and Vowel Contrast in Northeast Asian languages. Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Kock, A.
    1911–16 Umlaut und Brechung im Altschwedischen: Eine Übersicht. Lund: Gleerup & Leipzig: Harrassovitz.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Koivulehto, J.
    1993 Zur Etymologie von Fi. susi, tosi – und kesi: eine Entgegnung. Linguistica Uralica29.21–37.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Kroonen, G.
    2008 The Origin of Gothic izwis. NOWELE53.3–11. doi: 10.1075/nowele.53.01kro
     https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.53.01kro [Google Scholar]
  55. Lahiri, A. , T. Riad & H. Jacobs
    1999 Diachronic Prosody. In H. van der Hulst (ed.), Word Prosodic Systems in the Languages of Europe, 335–422. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Available atwww.ling-phil.ox.ac.uk/files/uploads/diachronic_prosody_lahiri_et_al.pdf 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Lass, R.
    1994 Old English: A Historical Linguistic Companion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511621000
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621000 [Google Scholar]
  57. Liberman, A.
    2001 Review of M. Schulte (1998). Alvíssmál10/2001.85–87. Available atuserpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/10michae.pdf 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  58. 2007 Palatalized and Velarized Consonants in English against their Germanic Background with Special Reference to i-Umlaut. In C. M. Cain & G. Russom (eds.), Studies in the History of the English Language III. Managing Chaos: Strategies for Identifying Change in English, 5–36. Berlin & New York: Mouton De Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110198515.1.5
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110198515.1.5 [Google Scholar]
  59. Myrvoll, K. J.
    2012 Framvoksteren av sterkt hokyn frå urnordisk til norrønt. In J. O. Askedal , T. Schmidt & R. Theil (eds.), Germansk filologi og norske ord. Festskrift til Harald Bjorvand på 70-årsdagen den 30. juli 2012, 16–32. Oslo: Novus Forlag. Available at 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Nielsen, H. F.
    2000 The Early Runic Language of Scandinavia: Studies in Germanic Dialect Geography. Indogermanische Bibliothek, Reihe 1. Heidelberg: Winter.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Noreen, A.
    1904 Altnordische Grammatik II:Altschwedische Grammatik. Mit Einschluss des Altgutnischen. Halle: Niemeyer.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. 1923 (1884) Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. (4. vollständig umgearbeitete auflage). Halle (Saale): Max Niemeyer.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Oxford, Will
    2015 Patterns of contrast in Phonological Change: Evidence from Algonquian Vowel Systems. Language91.2: 308–357. doi: 10.1353/lan.2015.0028
     https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2015.0028 [Google Scholar]
  64. Panieri, L.
    2013 Überlegungen zur nordischen Entwicklung von germ.*/ē1/ in Endsilbe. Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik70.25–40. doi: 10.1163/9789401209205_004
     https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401209205_004 [Google Scholar]
  65. Rasmussen, J. Elmegård
    2000 The Growth of i-Umlaut in Norse and West Germanic: Thoughts on a Recent Book. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia: International Journal of Linguistics32(1).143–159. doi: 10.1080/03740463.2000.10412306
     https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2000.10412306 [Google Scholar]
  66. Riad, T.
    1992 Structures in Germanic prosody. A diachronic study with special reference to the Nordic languages. Ph.D. dissertation. Stockholm: Dept. of Scandinavian languages, Stockholm University. Available atwww.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.29930.1320939953!/RiadStructuresInGermanicProsody.pdf 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  67. 2000 Föreställningen om den germanska betoningen. In L.-E. Edlund (ed.), Studier i svensk språkhistoria 5. Förhandlingar vid Femte sammankomsten för svenska språkets historia Umeå 20–22 november 1997, 380–401. Umeå: Umeå universitet.
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Ringe, D.
    2006 From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. A Linguistic History of English VolumeI. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284139.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284139.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  69. Rischel, J.
    2008 A Unified Theory of Nordic i-Umlaut, Syncope and Stød. NOWELE54/55.191–235. doi: 10.1075/nowele.54‑55.06ris
     https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.54-55.06ris [Google Scholar]
  70. 2009 [1966] Phoneme, Grapheme, and the ‘Importance’ of Distinctions. Functional Aspects of the Scandinavian Runic Reform. In Rischel, J. Sound Structure in Language, 254–271. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Sandstedt, J. J.
    2014 Old Norwegian Vowel Harmony: A Quantitative Graphemic-Phonological Analysis. M. A. dissertation, University of Oslo. Available aturn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-45464 2.4.2017
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Schalin, J.
    2016 Östskandinavisk utveckling av den urnordiska ɑi-diftongen och palatalt r i ljuset av finska ljudsubstitutioner. In D. Andersson , L. -E. Edlund , S. Haugen & A. Westum (ed.), Studier i svensk språkhistoria 13. Historia och språkhistoria (Nordsvenska 25.). Umeå: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för språkstudier.
     [Google Scholar]
  73. 2017 (to appear). Scandinavian Front Umlaut Revisited and Revised. Proofed for publication inANF132.
     [Google Scholar]
  74. (forthcoming). Preliterary Scandinavian Sound Change Viewed from the East – Umlaut Remodelled and Language Contact Revisited. Summary chapter of a doctoral dissertation, which synthesises i.a. the present paper and Schalin 2017.
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Schulte, M.
    1998 Grundfragen der Umlautphonemisierung. Eine strukturelle Analyse des nordgermanischen i/j-Umlauts unter Berücksichtigung der älteren Runeninschriften. Berlin & New York: de Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110801781
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110801781 [Google Scholar]
  76. Skomedal, T.
    1980 Syncope, omlyd og brytning i nordisk. In E. Hovdhaugen (ed.), The Nordic languages and modern linguistics: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference of Nordic and General Linguistics in Oslo 1980, 120–139. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
     [Google Scholar]
  77. Steblin-Kamenskij, M. I.
    1957 Scandinavian Breaking from a Phonemic Point of View. Studia Linguistica11(1–2).84–91. doi: 10.1111/j.1467‑9582.1957.tb00384.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9582.1957.tb00384.x [Google Scholar]
  78. Stiles, P.
    2012 Older Runic Evidence for North-West Germanic a-umlaut of u (and ‘the converse of Polivanov’s Law’)In P. Probert & A. Willi (eds.), Laws and Rules in Indo-European, 43–60. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199609925.003.0004
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199609925.003.0004 [Google Scholar]
  79. Thiberg J. Thalbitzer
    2011 Nordiske u-stammer – fra indoeuropæisk til dansk. Dissertation presented at the University of Copenhagen.
     [Google Scholar]
  80. Voyles, J. B.
    1982 Old Norse i-Umlaut. Linguistics20 (3–4).267–286.
     [Google Scholar]
  81. 1992 Early Germanic grammar: pre-, proto-, and post-Germanic languages. San Diego: Academic Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  82. 2005 The “Conundrum” of Old Norse i-Umlaut: A Reply to Iverson and Salmons. Journal of Germanic Linguistics17(4).265–277. doi: 10.1017/S1470542705000103
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S1470542705000103 [Google Scholar]
  83. Wessén, E.
    1968 [1941] Svensk Språkhistoria. 1, Ljudlära och ordböjningslära. (8. uppl.) Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
     [Google Scholar]
  84. Widmark, G.
    1991 Fornvästnordiska förleder i omljudsperspektiv. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
     [Google Scholar]
  85. 2010 Det nordiska u-omljudet. En dialektgeografisk undersökning. Del 2. Uppsala.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/nowele.70.2.03sch
Loading
Scandinavian umlaut and contrastive feature hierarchies
NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution 70, 171 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.70.2.03sch
/content/journals/10.1075/nowele.70.2.03sch
/content/journals/10.1075/nowele.70.2.03sch
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error