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Valthungian: Difference between revisions
→Blocking of Metathetical Unpacking
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===Blocking of Metathetical Unpacking=== | ===Blocking of Metathetical Unpacking=== | ||
Another formidable name, but what this means is that historically a sound change caused ‹a› to disappear before a sonorant (‹l›, ‹r›, ‹m›, or ‹n›), turning them into syllabics, and merging them with other pre-existing syllabics from Gothic. Later on, syllabics were “unpacked;” that is, they regained the ‹a› that had been lost, but it now appeared after the sonorant instead of before it. For example, ''brōþar'' ‘brother’ became ''brōðra'' via an intermediate *''brōðr̩''. However, there are a few instances where this unpacking didn’t happen because the ‹a› before the sonorant could not be deleted; if it were, the word would have been unpronounceable. Metathesis is also blocked after any non-intervocalic voiced continuant; that is, V[v/ð]S shifts as expected (e.g. ''widan'' > ''wiðn̩'' > ''wiðna''), but VC[v/ð]S does not (e.g. ''haldan'' > ''halðan'', not **''halðna''). | |||
The practicality of this rule as it applies to modern Gutish is that: | |||
*Dative plural nouns whose roots end in ‹–m› have the ending of ‹–am› rather than ‹–ma›, e.g. ''worms'' ‘worm’ has the dative plural of ''wormam'' rather than **''wormma''. | |||
*Masculine and feminine accusative plural strong nouns ending in ‹–n› have the ending of ‹–ans› rather than ‹–nas›, e.g. ''ǭns'' ‘oven’ has the accusative plural of ''ǭnans'' rather than **''ǭnnas''. | |||
*Infinitives of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs whose roots end with ‹lð›, ‹lv›, ‹rð›, or ‹rv› have ‹–an› instead of ‹–na›, e.g. Gothic ''þaurban'' becomes ''þorvan'' rather than the otherwise expected **''þorvna''. | |||
===Assimilation of [r] and [s]=== | ===Assimilation of [r] and [s]=== | ||