> The English preservation of /w/ is no more unnatural than the Danish
> preservation of /sk/, which changed in all other Germanic languages
> at least before front vowels, and in some before all vowels.
The idea that Danish, unless Swedish and Norwegian, preserved /k/ and
/sk/ before front vowels is a common misconception, although it's true
as a description of the language today. A large number of the dialects
did in fact palatalize those, today Vendsysselsk and Bornholmsk, the
two most peripheral dialects, still do, and even in spelling this was
marked as (s)kj-/(s)ki-. Danish *depalatalized*, most likely under
German influence; those spellings became obsolete around 1900. My
favorite example is 'sky' /skü?/ "aspic" < French 'jus' /3ü/ > 19th
cent. Da. /sjü/, falsely understood as 'sky' dial. /sjü?/, now /skü/,
and depalatalized. Another one is 1900 cent. colloq. 'skersant'
"sergeant", falsely depalatalized from /sjersjant/,
Torsten