From: Rob
Message: 42334
Date: 2005-11-29
>I take it that this alleged change occurred only with stressed
> At 8:50:45 PM on Thursday, November 24, 2005, Rob wrote:
>
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> > <BMScott@...> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >> As I understand it, PWGmc */a/ > early OE /æ/; before /lC/,
> >> /rC/, and /x/ this broke to /æa/ (spelled <ea>) in West
> >> Saxon and retracted to /a/ (which was probably more like
> >> [A]) in Anglian. (When the conditions for breaking weren't
> >> present, /æ/ remained /æ/ except in Kentish in southwest
> >> Mercian, where it became /e/.) Finally, short vowels and
> >> short diphthongs were lengthened in late OE before such
> >> voiced homorganic clusters as /ld/, so Anglian /kald/ >
> >> late /ka:ld/ > ME /kO:ld/ except in the North.
>
> > If PWGmc */a/ > early OE /æ/, then were did OE /a/ come
> > from?
>
> So-called restoration of [A]: stressed /æ/ was retracted to
> /a/ (realized as [A]) before a back vowel in the following
> syllable.