At 3:17:13 PM on Tuesday, November 29, 2005, Rob wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:
>> At 8:50:45 PM on Thursday, November 24, 2005, Rob wrote:
[...]
>>> 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 So-called restoration of [A]: stressed /æ/ was retracted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.
> I take it that this alleged change occurred only with
> stressed syllables?
> Perhaps the /a/ was never fronted in the first place.
Anglo-Frisian Brightening (AFB: */a/ > [æ] except before
nasals) isn't in question (e.g., OE <dæg>, OFr <deg> 'day'
vs. ON <dagr>, OHG <tag>, Goth <dags>). In principle it
might have been blocked by a back vowel in the next syllable
as well as a following nasal, in which case no later
retraction would have been necessary, but comparison of
<sléan> 'to slay' with <dragan> 'to draw' shows that this
wasn't the case. The starting points are */slaxan/ and
*/draGan/, and in the latter we could clearly have either
*/a/ > */æ/ > /a/ or */a/ > /a/, with AFB blocked by the
*/a/ of the second syllable. But <e(:)a> comes only from
breaking of /æ(:)/ (which is regular only before /x/ and
doesn't occur before /G/), so <sléan> requires AFB. Lass
offers the following derivation:
Input */slaxan/
AFB */slæxan/
Breaking */slæ^uxan/
DHH */slæ^axan/
/x/-deletion */slæaan/
'Contraction' /slæan/
OE form sléan
Here /æ^u/ represents a diphthong /æu/ with a breve over it,
a short diphthong of one mora; DHH is Diphthong Height
Harmonization, here with the second (weaker) element
assimilating in height to the first element; and
'Contraction' is contraction of */æaa/ to the long (bimoric)
diphthong /æa/, written <éa>.
Brian