Re: Compensatory Lengthening

Hi!

Rob Haden <magwich78@...> writes:
> Greetings,
>
> I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the most common conditions are
> for compensatory lengthening to arise.  Thanks!
One typical condition is loss of a consonant.  E.g. in Old-Norse, this
happened after a short vowel, by loss of a nasal or fricative or glide
in front of another consonant.  Many vowels were lowered as a side
effect of this lengthening (presumably since e.g. short /u/ was [U]
and when lengthened, was closer to [o] than to [u]).

E.g.

   *suhti    > so:tt
   *mathl    > ma:l
   *fjodhriR > fjo:rir

(The ':' is written as an acute on the previous voewl.)

**Henrik

--
Relay 13 is forthcoming:
http://www.conlang.info/relay/relay13.html