In:
Linguistik Online, University of Bern, Vol. 116, No. 4 ( 2022-09-11), p. 41-59
Abstract:
This article revisits a vexed question, namely the phonological interpretation of the Germanic and Old High German distance assimilation changes. It will be argued that 1) the prehistoric Germanic subsystem of short vowels should be reconstructed with five phonemes (/i/, /e/, /u/, /o/, /a/), not with four (/i/, /e/, /u ~ o/, /a/) or with three (/i ~ e/, /u ~ o/, /a/); 2) the Old High German umlaut phenomena produced phonemic changes before the factors that triggered them off changed or disappeared, because the umlaut allophones gradually shifted to such a degree that they became distinctive in the phonological system of the language and contrastive at a lexical level.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1615-3014
DOI:
10.13092/lo.116.8889
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
University of Bern
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1427642-2
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