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Valthungian: Difference between revisions
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→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 at various times historically, sound changes caused unstressed /a/ to disappear before sonorants (/l/, /r/, /m/, or /n/), turning them into syllabics. This happened at least once before the Gothic era, giving rise to words like ''bagms'' and ''aþn'', and again before Valthungian, most notably collapsing the infinitive ''-an'' to ''-n''. 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 | Another formidable name, but what this means is that at various times historically, sound changes caused unstressed /a/ to disappear before sonorants (/l/, /r/, /m/, or /n/), turning them into syllabics. This happened at least once before the Gothic era, giving rise to words like ''bagms'' and ''aþn'', and again before Valthungian, most notably collapsing the infinitive ''-an'' to ''-n''. 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 restoration of 〈a〉after the sonorant would have rendered the word unpronounceable. This metathesis (which, in reality, is not really metathesis, but that’s what I’m calling it for now) is also blocked after any non-intervocalic voiced continuant; that is, V[v/ð]S shifts as expected (e.g. ''*widan'' > ''*wiðn̩'' > ''viðna''), but VC[v/ð]S does not (e.g. ''*haldan'' > ''halðan'', not **''halðna''). | ||
The practicality of this rule as it applies to modern Valthungian is that: | The practicality of this rule as it applies to modern Valthungian is that: | ||
*Dative plural a-stem 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''. | *Dative plural a-stem 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 | *Masculine strong a-stem nouns ending in 〈–n〉 have the the dative plural ending of 〈–am〉 (as above) and the accusative plural ending of 〈–ans〉 rather than 〈–nas〉, e.g. ''ǭns'' ‘oven’ has the dative plural of ''ǭnam'' and the accusative plural of ''ǭnans'' rather than **''ǭnma'' and **''ǭnnas''. | ||
*Infinitives of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs whose | *Infinitives of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs whose stems end with 〈lð〉, 〈lv〉, 〈rð〉, or 〈rv〉 have 〈–an〉 instead of 〈–na〉, e.g. ''*þorban'' becomes ''þorvan'' rather than the otherwise expected **''þorvna''. | ||
*The third person plural indicative of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs end in ''-anþ'' rather than **''naþ''. | *The third person plural indicative of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs end in ''-anþ'' rather than **''naþ''. | ||