<div style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>==============================</font><font>=======================<br> L O W L A N D S - L - 15 February 2012 - Volume 01<br><a href="mailto:lowlands.list@gmail.com" target="_blank">lowlands.list@gmail.com</a>
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<big style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><a href="mailto:hannehinz@t-online.de" target="_blank"></a><br>
Subject: Phonology<br>
</big><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Dear Lowlanders,</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">I wonder if you would join me in revisiting the Lowlands Germanic word group represented by English "willow" (genus </span><i style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Salix</i><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">), in part to examine more data regarding metathesis.</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Salix</b><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Old English: </span><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span class="foreign">welig</span></b><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
Modern English: </span><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">willow</b><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Old Saxon: </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" class="foreign"><b>wilgia</b><br>
Modern Low Saxon: <b>Wichel</b><br>Middle Dutch: </span><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span class="foreign">wilghe</span></b><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Modern Dutch: </span><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span class="foreign">wilg</span></b><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Frisian (West): </span><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">wylch<br></b><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Frisian (East, Sater): </span><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Wüülg</b><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">(</span><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">e</b><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">)-</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" class="foreign"><br>Proto-Germanic: *<b>walg-</b></span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">(This is distinct from the semantically identical word group represented for instance by Scots </span><i style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">widdy</i><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">, Limburgish </span><i style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">wiej</i><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">, and German </span><i style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Weide</i><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">.)</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Two observations:</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><ol style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<li>The English forms show a shift from <i>-lig</i> to <i>-low</i>. The same shift can be observed in "bellow" and "fellow." At least at some point in time, Old English realized syllable-final <i>-g</i> 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 <i>-g to -w</i> is not at all uncommon among the world's languages; e.g. Turkic <i>taɣ</i> > <i>taw </i>> <i>tow</i> 'mountain').</li>
<li>The Saxon language must have developed the following forms ...<br>*<i>wilge </i>[ˈwɪɫɣə] > <br>*<i>wilg </i>[wɪɫɣ] (final devoicing/hardening) > <br>*<i>wilg </i>[wɪɫç] (final vowel deletion) > <br>*<i>wileg </i>[ˈwɪɫəç] (vowel insertion) ><br>
<i>Wichel </i>[ˈwɪçeɫ] (metathesis) </li></ol><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Are there any alternative proposals?</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Thanks and regards!</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Seattle, USA</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><big style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></big><font style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><div style="text-align:center">
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