Re: Grimm and Verner

> >For the other positions (word final, third-syllable), we can

imagine

> >that Proto-Germanic perhaps utilized a rising tone to mark word
> >boundaries (as is the case in e.g. Bambara) [i.e. contours:
> >*\ma:\te:r/, *\pa/te:r/]
>
> I was just making it up as I went along, but having checked now, I
> find that the Scandinavian tonal system *is* indeed Bambara-style.
> Monosyllables generally have Swedish acute and Danish stød (hús,
> hu?s), while polysyllables tend to show Swedish grave and no stød in
> Danish (k`öpá, købe), consistent with a high tone to mark the end of
> the word. Presumably, the tonal distinction between (static/
> proterodynamic) \mo:\thar/ and (hysterodynamic) \fa/thar/ was
> cancelled by Verner's law (\mo:\þar/, \fa\ðar/), producing a single
> polysyllabic type, which survives as Swedish \mo(de)r/, \fa(de)r/,
> Danish mor, far (no stød); as opposed to the monosyllabic type,
> \hu:s/, where Swe. has substituted simple acute (rising) tone, and
> Danish expresses the final rise (which has no second syllable to go
> to) as a glottal stop.
>
>
> =======================
> Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
> mcv@...

An alternative explanation: if originally tones were as now in the
Copenhagen and Sjaelland accents, with stressed syllables having a
low tone and the following one(s) having a high tone, the high tone
marking the word you are talking about would be the last vestiges of
the (relatively) high tone of the following syllable, which was later
elided.
I remember from when I was drafted in Holbaek, NW Sjaelland the
dialect had <på?å> with the last syllable on a high note for Standard
Danish <på?> "on". You heard that even from people from Hedehusene, 8
km from Roskilde in the direction of Copenhagen.

Torsten