LL-L 'Phonology' 2006.06.25 (02] [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 25 June 2006 * Volume 03
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology

Folks,

The English word "one" [wAn] keeps on mystifying me.

First of all, it had a rounded vowel throughout its history.  I can dig that,
since dialectal rounding of long /a/ was not unknown in Old English: thus _ān_ ~
_ōn_ 'one', which I assume were pronounced *[Q:n] ~ *[O:n] ([Q:] = "posh" British
as in "father" or Swedish as in _bra_, [O:] as in drawn out "God!").  However,
there were dialects that used short [a] in this word, given occasional occurrence
of _ann_, rarely even _æn_.

In the north of Britain, *_ayn_ held its ground, hence Scots _ayn_ for 'one'
[e:n], consistent with _stayn_ [ste:n] 'stone', _alane_ [@"le:n] 'alone', _bayn_
[be:n] 'bone', etc. (cf. Low Saxon [E.In], [stE.In], [?a"lE.In], [bE.In]
respectively). 

Somehow the rounded version too over in Southern England and consequently in what
might be called "Standard English."  I can dig that too.

What mystifies me mostly is what appears to be Frisian-like "breaking" in "one",
something I assume developed from a falling diphthong: *oon > *uon > *won > wAn.
 (_Oon_ is one of the attested Middle English spellings, by the way.)  However,
it does not seen to be a Frisicism, given non-rounded Modern Westerlauwer Frisian
_ien_ (< *_een_, "broken" to [ien]).

Breaking in early dialectal versions of "one" are indeed fairly common, such as
chiefly Northern _yane_, _yean_ and _yan_, also Northern Irish English _yane_ and
_yin_.  The Irish English case is not too surprising, given that Irish English
(ans also West Indies English) consistently uses falling diphthongs where other
dialects have rising diphthongs (e.g., _bone_ England [boUn] versus Ireland and
West Indies [buOn] ~ broken [bwOn]).

The most puzzling part to me is that what in "general" English seems to be a case
of vowel breaking in "one" seems to be unique rather than a part of a generally
applying rule.  I can't come up with other such cases.

As I said, it makes sense in Irish and West Indies English as a part of a general
pattern.  Other such example are Sorbian (Lusatian) and Polabian in which initial
[O] (<o>) became [wO].

English: he | window | person | eight | around
Polabian: wôn | wôknü ~ waknü | ? | visěm | ?
Sorbian: won | wokno | wosoba | wosom | wokolo 
Kashubian: òn | òkno | ? | woesmë | ?
Polish: on | okno | osoba | osiem | wokolo
Czech: on | okno | osoba | osm | okolo
Slovak: on | okno | osoba | osem | okolo
Ukrainian: vin | okno | osoba | visim | -
Belarusan: jon | vakno | asoba | vosem | -
Russian: on | okno | osoba | vosem' | -
Slovene: on | okno | oseba | osem | okoli
Croatian: on | okno | osoba | osam | okolo
Serbian: on | okno | osoba | osam | okolo
Bulgarian: - | - | - | osem | okolo

Any thoughts, idea?

Thanks.

Reinhard/Ron

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