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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 historically | 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 Gutish, 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 ‹a› before the sonorant could not be deleted; if it were, the word would have been 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'' > ''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: | 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''. | *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 accusative plural strong a-stem 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''. | *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''. | ||
*The third person plural indicative of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs end in ''-anþ'' rather than **''naþ''. | |||
===Assimilation of [r] and [s]=== | ===Assimilation of [r] and [s]=== | ||