Exceptions to sound change and external motivation
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Raymond Hickey
Abstract
This contribution looks at typical changes of sounds and views these as sets of changes the members of which are linked. It also considers the directions of sound changes, considering these as natural pathways (in the case of lenition) or trajectories among vowel movements in which different vocalic elements stand in a spatial relationship to each other. As data the contribution examines a number of changes in English in the capital of Ireland, Dublin, which has undergone considerable change in the past fifteen years or so. The present-day data is seen in a panchronic context and parallels are drawn to attested historical changes which show both regularities and principled exceptions to these. The latter are a particular focus in the theoretical discussion.
Abstract
This contribution looks at typical changes of sounds and views these as sets of changes the members of which are linked. It also considers the directions of sound changes, considering these as natural pathways (in the case of lenition) or trajectories among vowel movements in which different vocalic elements stand in a spatial relationship to each other. As data the contribution examines a number of changes in English in the capital of Ireland, Dublin, which has undergone considerable change in the past fifteen years or so. The present-day data is seen in a panchronic context and parallels are drawn to attested historical changes which show both regularities and principled exceptions to these. The latter are a particular focus in the theoretical discussion.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
- The early Middle English scribe: Sprach er wie er schrieb? 1
- Essex/Suffolk scribes and their language in fifteenth-century London 45
- Middle English word geography: Methodology and applications illustrated 67
- Northern Middle English: Towards telling the full story 91
- The origins of the Northern Subject Rule 111
- Dynamic dialectology and social networks 131
- The Celtic hypothesis hasn't gone away: New perspectives on old debates 153
- On the trail of "intolerable Scoto-Hibernic jargon": Ulster English, Irish English and dialect hygiene in William Carleton's Traits and stories of the Irish peasantry (First Series, 1830) 171
- Exceptions to sound change and external motivation 185
- Index of subjects 195
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
- The early Middle English scribe: Sprach er wie er schrieb? 1
- Essex/Suffolk scribes and their language in fifteenth-century London 45
- Middle English word geography: Methodology and applications illustrated 67
- Northern Middle English: Towards telling the full story 91
- The origins of the Northern Subject Rule 111
- Dynamic dialectology and social networks 131
- The Celtic hypothesis hasn't gone away: New perspectives on old debates 153
- On the trail of "intolerable Scoto-Hibernic jargon": Ulster English, Irish English and dialect hygiene in William Carleton's Traits and stories of the Irish peasantry (First Series, 1830) 171
- Exceptions to sound change and external motivation 185
- Index of subjects 195
