Universität zu Köln

Hill, Eugen ORCID: 0000-0002-2252-0520 (2017). West Germanic monosyllabic lengthening and Gothic breaking as partially Proto-Germanic developments The evidence of pronominal place adverbs 'here', 'where' and 'there'. NOWELE, 70 (2). S. 135 - 171. AMSTERDAM: JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING CO. ISSN 2212-9715

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Abstract

The paper deals with two Germanic sound changes which are traditionally believed to postdate the disintegration of the Proto-Germanic parent language. The lengthening in several monosyllables, attested in West Germanic languages, is usually believed to be an innovation of this branch. The so-called Gothic breaking is similarly thought of as belonging exclusively to East Germanic. The paper shows that there is evidence suggesting a Proto-Germanic age for parts of both sound changes, in particular for a lengthening in monosyllabic words ending in PGmc *-r and for a lowering of PGmc *i if followed by *r. Proto-Germanic possessed at least three pronoun-based place adverbs formed with PGmc*-r, cf. Gothar hjar 'where' from hja- 'what', par 'there' from pa- 'that' and her 'here' from hi- 'this here'. The vocalism of these adverbs did pot match that of the corresponding pronouns on two points. First, the vowels of the adverbs were probably long. Second, the close PGmc *e (Goth e, OHG ia) of 'here' did not match PGmc *i in the corresponding pronoun. The paper assumes that the long vowels of the place adverbs emerged by a lengthening of etymologically short vowels in monosyllablic words ending in PGmc *-r. The timbre difference between PGmc *e in 'here' and PGmc *i in the corresponding pronoun for 'this here' is accounted for by a lowering of PGmc *i before *r. Both postulated developments must have been operating already in Proto-Germanic times but the lowering must have chronologically preceded the lengthening. The paper introduces the data supporting the assumptions made and discusses the apparent counterevidence.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Hill, Eugen UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-2252-0520 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-217541
DOI:	10.1075/nowele.70.2.02hil
Journal or Publication Title:	NOWELE
Volume:	70
Number:	2
Page Range:	S. 135 - 171
Date:	2017
Publisher:	JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING CO
Place of Publication:	AMSTERDAM
ISSN:	2212-9715
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 1: Kunstgeschichte, Musikwissenschaft, Medienkultur und Theater, Linguistik, IDH > Institut für Linguistik
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language UMLAUT; ORIGIN Multiple languages Language & Linguistics Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/21754