The Even Yearbook 7 (2006)
#67
volume 7 (2006)
author Dániel Huber
title Velars in the history of Old English
keywords velars, Old English, nasal loss, breaking, compensatory lengthening, government phonology
abstract The paper reviews phonological processes in the history of Old English where velars played a role. (1) In connection with nasal loss before Prim. Gmc. */x/, two proposals are made. First, that the velar fricative, lacking a phonological place of articulation, is too weak to perform its governing duties on a preceding nasal. Second, that the later loss of nasals before the other fricatives in OE and Old Frisian is quite reasonably the consequence of the nasal deletion before /x/. (2) As for the phonetic interpretation of breaking, its phonetic realization may be a simple [ə] or [u], of a melodically empty vocalic slot. Also, the problem of the short vs long diphthongs of OE is discussed, with representations in terms of elements. (3) With respect to the loss of /x/ between sonorants, it is argued that to assume compensatory lengthening for words of the -{l,r}x- shape (e.g. mearh ‘horse’) is unwarranted because (a) there is no conclusive positive evidence that it actually lengthened; (b) the process is theoretically suspect. (4) The changes to the initial velar clusters are discussed.
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