LL-L "Phonology" 2012.02.15 (01) [EN]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 15 February 2012 - Volume 01
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com> <hannehinz at t-online.de>
Subject: Phonology

Dear Lowlanders,

I wonder if you would join me in revisiting the Lowlands Germanic word
group represented by English "willow" (genus *Salix*), in part to examine
more data regarding metathesis.

*Salix*
Old English: *welig*
 Modern English: *willow*
Old Saxon: *wilgia*
Modern Low Saxon: *Wichel*
Middle Dutch: *wilghe*
Modern Dutch: *wilg*
Frisian (West): *wylch
*Frisian (East, Sater): *Wüülg*(*e*)-

Proto-Germanic: **walg-*

(This is distinct from the semantically identical word group represented
for instance by Scots *widdy*, Limburgish *wiej*, and German *Weide*.)

Two observations:

   1. The English forms show a shift from *-lig* to *-low*. The same shift
   can be observed in "bellow" and "fellow." At least at some point in time,
   Old English realized syllable-final *-g* as a fricative (probably as
   [ɣ]. This, in conjunction with preceding /l/, most probably lowered and
   rounded the vowel [ɪ] to [ɔ]. (The shift from fricativized *-g to -w* is
   not at all uncommon among the world's languages; e.g. Turkic *taɣ* > *taw
   *> *tow* 'mountain').
   2. The Saxon language must have developed the following forms ...
   **wilge *[ˈwɪɫɣə] >
   **wilg *[wɪɫɣ] (final devoicing/hardening) >
   **wilg *[wɪɫç] (final vowel deletion) >
   **wileg *[ˈwɪɫəç] (vowel insertion) >
   *Wichel *[ˈwɪçeɫ] (metathesis)

Are there any alternative proposals?

Thanks and regards!

Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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