Re: sound change
| From: | Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, May 8, 2001, 16:03 |
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On Tue, 8 May 2001 15:40:24 +1000, Tristan Alexander McLeay
<zsau@...> wrote:
>This led me to thinking about OE /a:/ to ME things.
>
>OE /a:n/ became PDE /wVn/, presumably via ME /O:n/ (judging by its
>spelling). Does anyone know why?
Usually explained as a dialectal loan (indeed, there were dialects
where ME O: > wO(:); BTW, the speling of _whole_ is influenced by such
dialectal pronunciaton).
>OE /hwa:m/ became PDE /hu:m/, presumably via ME /hwo:m/
Same with _who_, _whose_.
Can be analyzed as regular change in late ME: [CwO:] > [Co:] (the other
example being _two_; dunno any more examples, but counter-evidence seems
to be lacking too).
>OE /na:m/ became PDE /neim/
I thought it had short [a] in OE, secondary [a:] in ME (like in _make_,
etc.). No?
>And yet the general given sound change is OE /a:/ > ME /O:/ > PDE /@u/.
>Is the 'Why?' known?
As usual, there are lots of positonal subtleties with English vowels; cf.
examples like _song_ (OE sa:ng) or _lord_ (OE hla:fweard = loaf-ward).
>
>Tristan
Basilius
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