To what extent are the "classic" old norse vowels equal to modern-day
norwegian?

>From: "konrad_oddsson" <konrad_oddsson@...>
>Reply-To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [norse_course] S�rhlj��akerfi� (the vowel-system) - part 3 -
>Catholic times plus
>Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 04:48:35 -0000
>
>In our last installment about the 'vowel-system', we learned about
>how the Norse vowel-system looked toward the end of the so-called
>'viking age' and up around 1150, which is the approximate date of
>the earliest surviving description of the 'vowel-system'. In brief,
>the system looked like this ((n)= nasal):
>
>1. i, �, �(n)
>2. y, �, �(n)
>3. e, �, �(n)
>4. oe, �e, �e(n)
>5. �, '�, '�(n)
>6. u, �, �(n)
>7. o, �, �(n)
>8. ao, a�, a�(n)
>9. a, �, �(n)
>
>plus the diphthings:
>
>1. �i (earlier ai)
>2. �y (earlier ay)
>3. au
>
>As Catholic times progressed, 2 important changes occured in the
>vowel-system pictured above: 1) the nasals were gradually lost (see
>the last in each row) and 2) certain vowels began to run together,
>thus simplifying the vowel-system. Because nasalization was not in-
>dicated in old writing, we are uncertain about when it began to be
>lost and how long the process took. Because old spelling-conventions
>were inconsistent, it has also been difficult to determine exactly
>when and in what order vowel-simplification occured. Nevertheless,
>there is growing consensus that around 250 years into Catholic times
>the vowel system began to look like this:
>
>1. i, �
>2. y, �
>3. e, �
>4. oe, �e
>5. e, '�
>6. u, �
>7. o, �
>8. ao, �
>9. a, �
>
>Notice first that the nasals are gone (or at least unwritten), then
>notice the changes in rows 5 and 8: 1) short '�' has become short
>'e' and long ao (a�) has become long a (�). Furthermore, as the '�'
>in the diphthongs '�i' and '�y' was also short, it also became 'e'.
>In the normative academic spelling of the 19th and 20th centuries,
>the system pictured above looks like this:
>
>1. i, �
>2, y, �
>3. e, �
>4. o (with a line through it), oe
>5. e, �
>6. u, �
>7. o, �
>8. o (with a tail), �
>9. a, �
>
>Long '�' no longer needs to be shown with an accent, as there is no
>short version to contrast it with - it has become a unique symbol.
>Short 'ao' is written as 'o' (with a tail) - again, a unique symbol.
>Long 'ao' disappears and is replace by long a (�). The short of 'oe'
>is also written with a different symbol (o with a line through it) -
>this practice is purely a modern print-convention, however, as old
>manuscripts show either letter for short or long. Because some of
>the rows above now show reduplicated letters, we can simplify the
>presentation of the vowel-system thus:
>
>i, �, y, �, e, �, o (lined), oe, �, u, �, o, �, o (tailed), a, �.
>
>16 letters. We also sometimes see long 'o' (with a tail) - this is
>then in place of '�' where 'a' is from long 'ao', but not where '�'
>is not from long 'ao' - so, 16 or 17. The diphthongs thus:
>
>ei, ey, au
>
>Anyone interested in learning Old Norse today will have to become
>familiar with the printed vowels shown here. These letters can be
>seen in many standard editions of texts in Old Norse. Those that do
>not show these letters will usually show the following arrangement
>(which is identical to Modern Icelandic):
>
>i, �, y, �, e, �, �, �, u, �, o, �, a, �
>
>14 letters. Pay close attention to the differences here and you will
>avoid much confusion in moving from text to text: 1) both lined 'o'
>and its long equivalent (oe) are shown as '�' 2) tailed 'o' is also
>shown as '�' - 3 times '�'. The diphthongs the same:
>
>ei, ey, au
>
>I hope that this information about the vowel-system in 3 parts has
>been informative and helpful to some of you. Happy Norse-learning.
>
>Regards,
>Konrad.
>
>
>
>
>
>

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