LL-L "Phonology" 2005.02.06 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 06.FEB.2005 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From:  R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology

I wrote:

> So, clearly, this confirms that the words for 'rooster' and 'to make' have
> short vowels in Old Saxon. These came to be lengthened.  This is how it
> remained in the farwestern modern dialects, thus creating a contrast
> between
> /aa/1 (> [Q:] > [o:]) and /aa/2 (> [a:]), which in most dialects farther
> east (in what is now Germany) have come to be leveled to uniform /aa/ (>
> [Q:] > [o:]).

Simplification then continued in a number of North Saxon dialects,
especially in those of the Greater Lower Elbe Area, also farther north in
Holstein and farther east in Mecklenburg:

This leveled /aa/ came to be pronounced ([Q:] >) [o:].  It thus clashed with
previous /oo/ [o:] (as in _so_ [zo:] 'so', _toon_ [to:n] 'tone', _boot_
[bo:t] 'boat', _groot_ [gro:t] 'great', etc.).  This /oo/ then had to shift
to distance itself from /aa/.  It did so by merging with the diphthong /ou/.
As a result, the distinction between /oo/ and /ou/ is lost.  The
pronunciation is now uniformly [o.U], [O.U], [e.U], etc. (pretty much the
range you find in South English, Australian and New Zealand dialects in
words like "go" and "home").  So, to illustrate it, I say NS1 for general
North Saxon, and NS2 for these innovative, S standing for Saxon:

S   >   NS1   =   NS2
aa1 > aa [Q:] = aa [o:]
aa2 > aa [Q:] = aa [o:]
oo  > oo [o:] = ou [o.U]~[O.U]~[e.U]~[a.U]
ou  > ou [o.U] = ou [o.U]~[O.U]~[e.U]~[a.U]

In the far west supposedly most conservative:

S  aa1 > aa [a:]
S  aa2 > ao [Q:]

S oo  > oo [o:]
S ou  > ou [o.U]

In Eastern North Saxon and Northwestern East Saxon most simplified:

S  aa1 \
               > aa [o:]
S  aa2 /

S oo  \
              >  ou [o.U]
S ou  /

This is why folks from around the Lower Elbe write and say <Hohn> [ho:n]
'rooster', <moken> ["mo:k=N] 'to make', <Moon(d)> [mo:n(t)] 'moon', <groot>
~ <graut> [gro.Ut]~[gra.Ut] 'great', and <doon> ~ <daun> [do.Un] ~ [da.Un]
'to do', while other dialects have <Hahn> [hQ:n], <maken> ["mQ:k=N], <Maand>
[mQ:nt], <groot> [gro:t] and <doon>~<daun> [do.Un]~[da.Un] respectively, and
the most conservative farwestern dialects moreover still distinguish
<haan>~<hane> [ha:n]~["ha:n@] and <maken> ["ma:k=N] from <maon(e)>
[mQ:n(@)].

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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