Re: PGmc question

On 2009-03-28 22:29, Andrew Jarrette wrote:

> This development /au/>/æu/>/æo/>/æa/>/ea/ is happening or has happened
> in certain varieties of American English, in which e.g. 'how' has come
> to be pronounced something like /hæO/ or maybe even /hEO/, verging on
> /hEA/ or even /hæA/. I have often noticed this in Texan (traditional)
> pronunciation. Similarly Australian English and I think Cockney usually
> front and raise the first element, to something like /EU/ or /Eo/(etc.),
> so it seems that the basic diphthong /au/ has always been unstable in
> English (cf. former /au/ in <law> becoming /O:/, then in North American
> /A/).

Another example of this terrible feeling of déjà vu is the development
of PGmc. *ai > OE a: (/A:/), which also is happening or has happened in
several modern accents.

Piotr