Dental fricatives and stops in Germanic
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Bridget Smith
Abstract
This paper presents evidence for four important arguments: (1) Particular conditions in the development of the English language have allowed phonetic variation in the dental fricative to persist with few phonemic developments over the course of time. (2) The range of variation in production of the modern American English dental fricative reflects the range of actual outcomes in the other Germanic languages developing out of Proto-Germanic. (3) Relying on the uniformitarian principle, that the kinds of processes we can observe in the present are the same as processes that shaped languages in the past, this paper illustrates that the kinds of variation that are present in the Modern American English dental fricative are the same kinds of variation that can be posited to have existed in the dental fricative in Proto-Germanic. (4) These three points support, and are supported by, the theory, derived from multiple branches of linguistics, that sound change is the result of different phonemic interpretations and generalizations derived from ongoing variation. The spread of these generalizations is what gives us measurable and widespread sound changes such as those that have produced the various modern instantiations of the dental fricative.
Abstract
This paper presents evidence for four important arguments: (1) Particular conditions in the development of the English language have allowed phonetic variation in the dental fricative to persist with few phonemic developments over the course of time. (2) The range of variation in production of the modern American English dental fricative reflects the range of actual outcomes in the other Germanic languages developing out of Proto-Germanic. (3) Relying on the uniformitarian principle, that the kinds of processes we can observe in the present are the same as processes that shaped languages in the past, this paper illustrates that the kinds of variation that are present in the Modern American English dental fricative are the same kinds of variation that can be posited to have existed in the dental fricative in Proto-Germanic. (4) These three points support, and are supported by, the theory, derived from multiple branches of linguistics, that sound change is the result of different phonemic interpretations and generalizations derived from ongoing variation. The spread of these generalizations is what gives us measurable and widespread sound changes such as those that have produced the various modern instantiations of the dental fricative.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Phonology
- Middle English vowel length in French loanwords 9
- Dental fricatives and stops in Germanic 19
- Dialect variation and the Dutch diminutive 37
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Part II. Morphology, syntax and semantics
- On the disappearance of genitive types in Middle English 49
- An asymmetric view on stage II in Jespersen’s cycle in the West Germanic languages 61
- Temporal reference and grammaticalization in the Spanish perfect(ive) 73
- (Un)-interpretable features and grammaticalization 83
- Imperative morphology in diachrony evidence from the Romance languages 99
- VO vs V(…)O en Français 109
- On the development of Recipient passives in DO languages 123
- The emergence of DP in the history of English 135
- A diachronic view of Psychological verbs with Dative Experiencers in Spanish and Romanian 149
- On the loss of the masculine genitive plural in Cypriot Greek 161
- The rise of peripheral modifiers in the noun phrase 175
- Wild variation, random patterns, and uncertain data* 185
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Part III. Sociolinguistics and dialectology
- Le changement linguistique dans la langue orale selon deux recherches sur le terrain séparées d’un siècle 197
- Patrons sociolinguistiques chez trois générations de locuteurs acadiens 211
- Change of functions of the first person pronouns in Chinese 223
- Vinderup in real time 233
- Variation in real time 245
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Part IV. Tools and methodology
- UNIDIA 259
- Visualization, validation and seriation 269
- Quantifying linguistic changes 285
- Historical core vocabulary: Spring and/or anchor 295
- Index of languages and terms 307
- Index of subjects and terms 309
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonology
- Middle English vowel length in French loanwords 9
- Dental fricatives and stops in Germanic 19
- Dialect variation and the Dutch diminutive 37
-
Part II. Morphology, syntax and semantics
- On the disappearance of genitive types in Middle English 49
- An asymmetric view on stage II in Jespersen’s cycle in the West Germanic languages 61
- Temporal reference and grammaticalization in the Spanish perfect(ive) 73
- (Un)-interpretable features and grammaticalization 83
- Imperative morphology in diachrony evidence from the Romance languages 99
- VO vs V(…)O en Français 109
- On the development of Recipient passives in DO languages 123
- The emergence of DP in the history of English 135
- A diachronic view of Psychological verbs with Dative Experiencers in Spanish and Romanian 149
- On the loss of the masculine genitive plural in Cypriot Greek 161
- The rise of peripheral modifiers in the noun phrase 175
- Wild variation, random patterns, and uncertain data* 185
-
Part III. Sociolinguistics and dialectology
- Le changement linguistique dans la langue orale selon deux recherches sur le terrain séparées d’un siècle 197
- Patrons sociolinguistiques chez trois générations de locuteurs acadiens 211
- Change of functions of the first person pronouns in Chinese 223
- Vinderup in real time 233
- Variation in real time 245
-
Part IV. Tools and methodology
- UNIDIA 259
- Visualization, validation and seriation 269
- Quantifying linguistic changes 285
- Historical core vocabulary: Spring and/or anchor 295
- Index of languages and terms 307
- Index of subjects and terms 309
