05-12-03 14:46, Brian M. Scott wrote:
> Most of the unnormalized OE that I've seen has been
> onomastic, but even there the tendency is quite noticeable
> in patronymics, with <sunu> giving way to <sune>.
That is the next step -- the general reduction of most unstressed vowels
to schwa, and the confusion of originally distinct <-as>/<-es>,
<-on>/<-an>/<-en>/<-um>, <-e>/<-a>/<-u>, <-ast>/<-est>/<-ost>, etc.
(eventually falling together in ME orthography as <-es>, <-en>, <-e> and
<-est>, respectively). In such cases, of course, the unstressed vowel is
not epenthetic and doesn't owe its original quality to assimilatory
colouring.
Piotr