Home Prosodic change and the (apparent) irregularities in the development of segments
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Prosodic change and the (apparent) irregularities in the development of segments

  • Eugen Hill EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: November 12, 2019
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

According to the so-called Prosodic Change Hypothesis, sound change may be irregular if it is caused by a change in prosodic features of units to which the relevant segments belong. This theoretically not implausible hypothesis may provide an explanation for the well-known fact that some instances of sound change display what appears to be unexplainable exceptions. The present paper investigates the question of what kind of data can be used to verify the Prosodic Change Hypothesis. The paper establishes criteria which should be applied to potential evidence and demonstrates that, at present, the Prosodic Change Hypothesis has not yet been confirmed by reference to actual instances of sound change.

References

Arumaa, Peeter. 1964. Urslavische Grammatik. Einführung in das vergleichende Studium der slavischen Sprachen. I. Band. Einleitung. Lautlehre. Heidelberg: Winter.Search in Google Scholar

Becker, Thomas. 2002. Zur neuhochdeutschen Dehnung in offener Tonsilbe. In David Restle & Dietmar Zaefferer (eds.), Sounds and systems. Studies in structure and change. A Festschrift for Theo Vennemann, 35–58. Berlin: de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110894653.35Search in Google Scholar

Behaghel, Otto. 1928. Geschichte der deutsche Sprache. Fünfte verbesserte und stark erweiterte Auflage. Berlin–Leipzig: de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Blevins, Juliette. 2004. Evolutionary phonology. The emergence of sound patterns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486357Search in Google Scholar

Blevins, Juliette. 2006. A theoretical synopsis of evolutionary phonology. Theoretical Linguistics 32. 117–166.10.1515/TL.2006.009Search in Google Scholar

Blevins, Juliette. 2015. Evolutionary phonology: A holistic approach to sound change typology. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical phonology, 485–500. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199232819.013.006Search in Google Scholar

Borkovskij, V.I. & P.S. Kuznecov. 1965. Istoričeskaja grammatika russkogo jazyka. Izdanie vtoroe, dopolnennoe. Moskva: Nauka.Search in Google Scholar

Bräuer, Herbert. 1961. Slavische Sprachwissenschaft. I. Einleitung, Lautlehre. Berlin: de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110845549Search in Google Scholar

Braune, Wilhelm & Ingo Reiffenstein. 2004. Althochdeutsche Grammatik. I. Laut- und Formenlehre, 15. Auflage. Tübingen: Niemeyer.10.1515/9783110930887Search in Google Scholar

Bybee, Joan. 2012. Patterns of lexical diffusion and articulatory motivation for sound change. In Daniel Recasens & Maria Josep Solé (eds.), The initiation of sound change, 211–234. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: Benjamins.10.1075/cilt.323.16bybSearch in Google Scholar

Bybee, Joan. 2015. Articulatory processing and frequency of use in sound change. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical phonology, 467–484. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199232819.013.016Search in Google Scholar

Campbell, Lyle. 1998. Historical linguistics. An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Campbell, Lyle & William J. Poser. 2008. Language classification. History and method. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486906Search in Google Scholar

Carlton, Terence R. 1991. Introduction to the phonological history of the Slavic languages. Columbus: Slavica Publishers.Search in Google Scholar

Comrie, Bernard & Greville G. Corbett (eds.). 1993. The Slavonic languages. London–New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Eckman, Fred R. & Gregory K. Iverson. 2015. Second language acquisition and phonological change. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical phonology, 636–643. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199232819.013.005Search in Google Scholar

Endzelin, J. 1923. Lettische Grammatik. Heidelberg: Winter.Search in Google Scholar

Garrett, Andrew & Keith Johnson. 2013. Phonetic bias in sound change. In Alan C. L. Yu (ed.), Origins of sound change: Approaches to phonologization, 51–97. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573745.003.0003Search in Google Scholar

Gāters, Alfrēds. 1977. Die lettische Sprache und ihre Dialekte. The Hague: Mouton.10.1515/9783110813463Search in Google Scholar

Hale, Mark. 2003. Neogrammarian sound change. In Brian D. Joseph & Richard D. Janda (eds.), The handbook of historical linguistics, 343–368. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9780470756393.ch7Search in Google Scholar

Hale, Mark. 2007. Historical linguistics. Theory and method. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Hill, Eugen. 2007. Proportionale Analogie, paradigmatischer Ausgleich und Formerweiterung. Ein Beitrag zur Typologie des morphologischen Wandels. Diachronica 24(1). 81–118.10.1075/dia.24.1.05hilSearch in Google Scholar

Hill, Eugen. 2008. Lautgesetze und Dialektvariation in den Jenissej-Sprachen. Entwicklung der Labiale im Ketischen und Jugischen. Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher 22. 60–93.Search in Google Scholar

Hill, Eugen. 2009. Die Präferenztheorie in der historischen Phonologie aus junggrammatischer Perspektive. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 28. 231–263.10.1515/ZFSW.2009.026Search in Google Scholar

Hill, Eugen. 2010. Die ‘Prosodic change hypothesis’ oder zwei Typen der Lautwandel. International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction 7. 97–119.Search in Google Scholar

Hill, Nathan W. 2014. Grammatically conditioned sound change. Language and Linguistics Compass 8/6. 211–229.10.1111/lnc3.12073Search in Google Scholar

Hock, Hans H. 1991. Principles of historical linguistics, 2nd revised and updated edn. Berlin–New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110219135Search in Google Scholar

Hock, Hans H. & Brian D. Joseph. 2009. Language history, language change, and language relationship. An introduction to historical and comparative linguistics, 2nd revised edn. Berlin–New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110214307Search in Google Scholar

Joseph, Brian D. 2004. Morphological reconstruction. In Geert Booij, Christian Lehmann, Joachim Mugdan & Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Morphology. An international handbook on inflection and word-formation, vol. 2. 1661–1667. Berlin–New York: de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Karstien, Carl. 1939. Historische deutsche Grammatik. Erster Band. Geschichtliche Einleitung. Lautlehre. Heidelberg: Winter.Search in Google Scholar

Kempgen, Sebastian, Peter Kosta, Tilman Berger & Karl Gutschmidt (eds.). 2009–2014. The Slavic languages. An international handbook of their structure, their history and their investigation, vols. 1–2. Berlin–New York: de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Kienle, Richard von. 1969. Historische Laut- und Formenlehre des Deutschen, 2nd durchgesehene Auflage. Tübingen: Niemeyer.10.1515/9783111392479Search in Google Scholar

Kurath, Hans & Sherman M. Kuhn (eds.). 1959. Middle English dictionary. C–D. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Search in Google Scholar

Lahiri, Aditi & B. Elan Dresher. 1999. Open Syllable Lengthening in West Germanic. Language 75. 678–719.10.2307/417730Search in Google Scholar

Lahiri, Aditi & Paula Fikkert. 1999. Trisyllabic shortening in English: Past and present. English Language and Linguistics 3(2). 229–267.10.1017/S1360674399000234Search in Google Scholar

Lewis, Robert E., et al. 1999. Middle English dictionary. W.1. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Search in Google Scholar

Luick, Karl. 1964. Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache. Mit dem nach den hinterlassenen Aufzeichnungen ausgearbeiteten zweiten Kapitel hrsg. von Friedrich Wild & Herbert Koziol Oxford–Stuttgart: Blackwell–Tauchnitz.Search in Google Scholar

Mailhammer, Robert, William W. Kruger & Alexander Makiyama. 2015a. Type frequency influences phonological generalizations: Eliminating stressed open syllables with short vowels in West Germanic. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 27(3). 205–237.10.1017/S1470542715000069Search in Google Scholar

Mailhammer, Robert, David Restle & Theo Vennemann. 2015b. Preference laws in phonological change. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical phonology, 450–466. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199232819.013.032Search in Google Scholar

Miceli, Luisa. 2004. Pama-Nyungan as a genetic entity. In Claire Bowern & Harold Koch (eds.), Australian languages. Classification and the comparative method, 61–68. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: Benjamins.10.1075/cilt.249.07micSearch in Google Scholar

Murray, Robert W. 2000. Syllable cut prosody in early middle English. Language 76(3). 617–654.10.2307/417137Search in Google Scholar

Murray, Robert W. in print. Paradoxes, probabilities, and preferences: The Luickian edifice revisited, noch einmal. https://www.academia.edu/33384476 (accessed 5th December 2018).Search in Google Scholar

Nahtigal, Rajko. 1961. Die slavischen Sprachen. Abriss der vergleichenden Grammatik. Deutsche Fassung von Joseph Schütz Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Search in Google Scholar

Ohala, John. 2003. Phonetics and historical phonology. In Brian D. Joseph & Richard D. Janda (eds.), The handbook of historical linguistics, 669–686. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1111/b.9781405127479.2004.00024.xSearch in Google Scholar

Ohala, John. 2012. The listener as a source of sound change. An update. In Daniel Recasens & Maria Josep Solé (eds.), The initiation of sound change, 21–35. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: Benjamins.10.1075/cilt.323.05ohaSearch in Google Scholar

Olander, Thomas. 2015. Proto-Slavic inflectional morphology. A comparative handbook. Leiden–Boston: Brill.10.1163/9789004270503Search in Google Scholar

Page, B. Richard. 1999. The Germanic Verschärfung and prosodic change. Diachronica 16. 297–334.10.1075/dia.16.2.04pagSearch in Google Scholar

Page, B. Richard. 2007. On the irregularity of Open Syllable Lengthening in German. In Joseph Salmons & Shannon Dubenion-Smith (eds.), Historical linguistics 2005. Selected Papers from the 17th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Madison, Wisconsin, 31 July5 August 2005, 337–350. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/cilt.284.24pagSearch in Google Scholar

Paul, Hermann. 1916. Deutsche Grammatik. Band I. Teil I: Geschichtliche Einleitung. Teil II: Lautlehre. Halle a.S.: Niemeyer.Search in Google Scholar

Paul, Hermann, Thomas Klein, Joachim Solms & Klaus-Peter Wegera. 2007. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik, 25. Auflage. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Search in Google Scholar

Penzl, Herbert. 1975. Vom Urgermanischen zum Neuhochdeutschen. Eine historische Phonologie. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.Search in Google Scholar

Ramers, Karl H. 1999. Historische Veränderungen prosodischer Strukturen. Analysen im Licht der nichtlinearen Phonologie. Tübingen: Niemeyer.10.1515/9783110911367Search in Google Scholar

Reis, Marga. 1974. Lauttheorie und Lautgeschichte. Untersuchungen am Beispiel der Dehnungs- und Kürzungsvorgänge im Deutschen. München: Fink.Search in Google Scholar

Ringe, Don & Joseph F. Eska. 2013. Historical linguistics. Toward a Twenty-First Century Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511980183Search in Google Scholar

Rudzīte, Marta. 1964. Latviešu dialektoloģija. Rīga: Latvijas valsts izdevnieciba.Search in Google Scholar

Russ, Charles V.J. 1969. Die Ausnahmen zur Dehnung der mhd. Kurzvokale in offener Silbe. Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik 36. 82–88.Search in Google Scholar

Russ, Charles V.J. 1978. Historical German phonology and morphology. Oxford: Clarendon.Search in Google Scholar

Salmons, Joseph & Patrick Honeybone. 2015. Structuralist historical phonology. Systems in segmental change. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical phonology, 32–46. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199232819.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Schendl, Herbert. 2012. Middle English: Language contact. In Alexander Bergs & Laurel J. Brinton. (eds.), English historical linguistics. An international handbook, vol. 1. 513–519. Berlin–New York: de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Schenker, Alexander M. 1993. Proto-Slavonic. In Bernard Comrie & Greville G. Corbett (eds.), The Slavonic Languages, 60–121. London–New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Schmidt, Wilhelm. 1993. Geschichte der deutschen Sprache. Ein Lehrbuch für das germanistische studium, 6th Auflage. Stuttgart–Leipzig: Hirzel.Search in Google Scholar

Schrijver, Peter. 2014. Language contact and the origins of the Germanic languages. New York–London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203001912Search in Google Scholar

Seiler, Guido. 2009. Sound change or analogy? Monosyllabic lengthening in German and some of its consequences. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 12. 229–272.10.1007/s10828-009-9031-ySearch in Google Scholar

Seiler, Guido. 2010. Einsilblerdehnung: Neue Lösungen für ein altes problem. In Helen Christen, Sibylle Germann, Walter Haas, Nadia Montefiori & Hans Ruef (eds.), Alemannische Dialektologie: Wege in die Zukunft, 57–70. Stuttgart: Steiner.Search in Google Scholar

Seiler, Guido & Kathrin Würth. 2014. Monosyllabic lengthening in German and its relation to the syllable vs. word language typology. In Javier Caro Reina & Renata Szczepaniak (eds.), Syllable and word languages, 140–159. Berlin–Boston: de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110346992.140Search in Google Scholar

Shevelov, George Y. 1964. A prehistory of Slavic. The historical phonology of common Slavic. Heidelberg: Winter.Search in Google Scholar

Starck, Taylor & John C. Wells. 1990. Althochdeutsches Glossenwörterbuch. Heidelberg: Winter.Search in Google Scholar

Stieber, Zdzisław. 1973. A historical phonology of the polish language. Heidelberg: Winter.Search in Google Scholar

Szczepaniak, Renata. 2007. Der phonologisch-typologische Wandel des Deutschen von einer Silben- zu einer Wortsprache. Berlin–New York: de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110921656Search in Google Scholar

Vajda, Edward J. 2000. Ket prosodic phonology. Munich: Lincom.Search in Google Scholar

Vajda, Edward J. et al. 2001. The origin of phonemic tone in Yeniseic. In Mary Andronis (ed.), Proceedings from the Parasessions of the 37th Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 305–319. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Search in Google Scholar

Vennemann, Theo. 2000. Triple-cluster reduction in Germanic: Etymology without sound laws? Historische Sprachforschung 113. 239–258.Search in Google Scholar

Wiesinger, Peter. 1983. Dehnung und Kürzung in den deutschen Dialekten. In Werner Besch, Ulrich Knoop, Wolfgang Putschke & Herbert E. Wiegand (eds.), Dialektologie. Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung, 1088–1101. Berlin: de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110203332.1088Search in Google Scholar

Wilmanns, W. 1897. Deutsche Grammatik. Gotisch, Alt-, Mittel- und Neuhochdeutsch. Strassburg: Trübner.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2017-11-07
Revised: 2018-10-04
Revised: 2019-02-11
Accepted: 2019-06-07
Published Online: 2019-11-12
Published in Print: 2019-11-26

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 25.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/flih-2019-0014/html
Scroll to top button