Re: Plural vowel change

Raimundus A. Brown scripsit:

[excellent summary of i-mutative plurals in English & Welsh snipped]
 =

> You could, e.g. an original plural ending -a (like, e.g. neuter plurals=
 in
> Latin), which cause vowels to move lower, so, e.g. you could have: kin =
-
> ken; tun - ton.
> =
> I've never come across it, but there is no reason why you couldn't have=
 had
> an original plural ending in -u which then cause front vowels to move t=
o
> the back;
In Old Norse both a-umlaut and u-umlaut operated as well as
i-umlaut.  (Note: these are different *kinds* of vowel movements,
as opposed to German orthographic terminology, where all of a-, o-, u-
umlaut are the result of the process here called i-umlaut.

A-umlaut lowers i to e and u to o: examples are infrequent, but
we have ni=F0r 'down' vs. ne=F0an 'from below'.  Note that the a
still explicitliy appears here.

U-umlaut rounds (not backs) i to y, e to =F8, a to =E5 (here in its old
value of IPA [O]).  Examples: ON h=E5nd vs. OE hand; ON syngvan vs. OE si=
ngan;
genitive jar=F0ar vs. nominative j=E5r=F0.

Note:  The usual orthography of ON uses o-ogonek instead of =E5.

> Both are used. High/low seem, I think, more common and IMO are preferab=
le

The terminology open/closed is official IPA terminology, though;
regrettably, IMHO.

-- =

John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)