LL-L "Phonology" 2009.02.12 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 12 February 2009 - Volume 02
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology

Hi, everyone!

I would like to revisit and possibly get your thoughts about consonant
aspiration.

It seems to me that among the modern Germanic language groups there are
indications of genealogical traits mixed with areal features due to language
contacts.

If you look at Low Frankish (including Dutch) and Low Saxon, two closely
related groups, you find that presence and absence of aspiration is a major
distinguishing feature. There is no aspiration in Low Frankish (and indeed
in *all* Frankish groups), while with the exception of far-western dialects
(with Low Frankish contacts) Low Saxon has aspiration in syllables with
primary stress, virtually identical to the pattern in mainstream American
English (as opposed to other English varieties in which stress makes little
difference).

As I said, Frankish can be generalized as having no aspiration. Going
farther south we find Alemannic, most of whose varieties have strong
aspiration. Going east from there we find (Austro-)Bavarian and Thuringian
with no aspiration (?), where at the old and middle stages supposed
"lenition" led to ambiguous spelling (e.g. *buter ~ puter* 'butter'). Going
farther east we are well and truly in the "new" territory that used to be
mostly Slavic speaking and became home for immigrants from all over the
west, with considerable influx of Franks from as far away as today's
Netherlands and Belgium. Assumedly, the "Central German" varieties, which
include the "Upper Saxon" and Silesian ones, are products of language
mixing. However, they are predominantly without aspiration, which may be due
to a continuum with neighboring Thuringian, to Frankish influx or to both of
the above. However, going north from there and entering the eastern
extension of Low Saxon we find that aspiration predominates, be it because
of the persistence of this feature (despite Low Frankish influx), because of
aspiration in the Slavic substratum languages or because of both of them.

Frisian seems to be a mixed bag: aspiration in Germany under previous Saxon
domination and no aspiration under Dutch domination.

Scandinavian varieties are predominantly aspirating ones. In Danish,
aspiration is so strong that it has led to the creation of affricates (/t/
-> [ts]). In Islandic, aspiration is so strong that consonants come to be
pre-aspirated in certain environments (a feature Icelandic shares with the
Turkic Yughur language of Gansu, China, for instance).

And so we arrive at English, the "new" kid on the block, the love child of
Old Saxon, Old Frisian and other players on previously Celtic-speaking soil.
Here we find a preponderance of aspiration with the exception of a few
(northern?) dialects. A Saxon feature that spread, perhaps facilitated by
Celtic aspiration? As mentioned earlier, mainstream American English by and
large follows the same aspiration pattern as does mainstream Low Saxon (i.e.
aspiration of voiceless stops in syllables with primary stress only; e.g.
Peter [ˈpʰitɻ̩] ~ [ˈpʰiɾɻ̩],* Low Saxon [ˈpʰe(ː)tɝ] ~ [ˈpʰe(ː)ɾɝ],* versus
British English [ˈpʰiːtʰɚ] ~ [ˈpʰiːʦ ʰɚ] and German [ˈpʰeːtʰɐ]). (*This
permitted the development of the medial t-flap in American and Low Saxon.)

Are there any relevant thoughts and theories out there?

Thanks and regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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