LL-L "Phonology" 2012.01.09 (02) [EN]

[Lowlands-L]

=====================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L - 09 January 2012 - Volume 01
lowlands.list at gmail.com - http://lowlands-l.net/
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
Archive: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-08)
Language Codes: lowlands-l.net/codes.php
=====================================================


From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology

Hi, Luc and all!

How do you pronounce "grass" (E) in Low Saxon?

Plenty of Lowlands dialects realise something along the lines of "ga(r)s,
ge(r)s". The pair "græs, gærs" already existed in Old English by the way,
metathesis is old and pretty universal. This is the kind of stuff language
architects love to straighten out. Maybe they were more active in Northern
Germany than elsewhere?

Please allow me to get the ball rolling.

No, I am not aware of "grass" equivalents with metathesis in Low Saxon, but
I would not be too surprised if some dialects turned out to have such
forms. There appears to be no consistent metathesis rule (rV ~ Vr, etc.).
Such occurrences are sporadic.

However, you mentioning "grass" brings up another interesting phonological
phenomenon in Low Saxon, this one apparently being consistent.

The phonemic (i.e. underlying) form of the Low Saxon equivalent of "grass"
is /graz/. The vowel is short, and the final consonant undergoes devoicing:


   - /graz/ => [gras] *Gras *'grass', 'blade of grass'


Underlying voicedness of the final consonant is revealed in the plural
forms:


   - (/grääzə/ >) => *Grẹs'* *~ Gräs'* [greːˑz] ~ [grɛːˑz] (superlength) ~
   (/greezər/ >) *Grẹser* ~ *Gräser* [ˈgreːzɐ] ~ [ˈgrɛːzɐ] 'blades of grass'


In other words, the singular form has a short vowel while the plural forms
have a long (and in this case umlauted) vowel. above, this is a pattern;
e.g.:


   - singular: /hov/ => *Hoff* [hɔf] 'court', 'yard', 'farm'
   plural: (/höövə/ >) => *Höv'* [høːˑv] ~ [hœːˑv] (superlength) ~
   (/höövən/ >) => *Höven* [ˈhøːvm̩] ~ [ˈhœːvm̩] 'courts', 'yards', 'farms'


   - singular: /tog/ => *Tog* (~ *Toch*)* *[tʰɔx] 'draw', 'procession',
   '(railway) train'
   plural: (/töögə/ >) => *Tọ̈g'* ~ *T**œ**g'* [tʰøːˑɣ] ~ [tʰœːˑɣ]
   (superlength) 'draws', 'processions', '(railway) trains'

Question:

   - It seems to be specific to cases of superlength. Is this so?

In the equivalent cases in southern-based Standard German pronunciation,
the vowel is long in all instances, although the orthography does not
indicate this:


   - singular: /graaz/ => [grɑːs] *Gras *'grass', 'blade of grass'
   plural: /grääzer/ => *Gräser* [ˈgreːzɐ] ~ [ˈgrɛːzɐ] 'blades of grass'
   - singular: /hoof/ => *Hof* [hoːf] 'court', 'yard', 'farm'
   plural: (/hööfə/ >) => *Höfe *[ˈhøːfə] 'courts', 'yards', 'farms'
   - singular: /ʦuug/ => *Zug** *[ʦʰuːk] 'draw', 'procession', '(railway)
   train'
   plural: (/ʦüügə/ >) => *Z**üge* [ˈʦʰyːgə] 'draws', 'processions',
   '(railway) trains'

However, in northern-based Standard German, evidently due to Low Saxon
substrata, the singular forms tend to be treated as in Low Saxon:

   - singular: /graz/ => [gras] *Gras *'grass', 'blade of grass'
   plural: /grääzer/ => *Gräser* [ˈgreːzɐ] ~ [ˈgrɛːzɐ] 'blades of grass'
   - singular: /ʦuug/ => *Zug** *[ʦʰʊx] 'draw', 'procession', '(railway)
   train'
   plural: (/ʦüügə/ >) => *Z**üge* [ˈʦʰyːgə] 'draws', 'processions',
   '(railway) trains'

Due to a different form on the phonemic level, this does not apply here:

   - singular: /hoof/ => *Hof* [hoːf] 'court', 'yard', 'farm'
   plural: (/hööfə/ >) => *Höfe *[ˈhøːfə] 'courts', 'yards', 'farms'

Any observations, comments, insights?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA
* *
 =========================================================
Send posting submissions to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
Send commands (including "signoff lowlands-l") to
listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands.list at gmail.com
http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=118916521473498
==========================================================
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20120109/70e8c63c/attachment.htm>