A Grammar of Old English, Volume 1: Phonology

First published in 1992, A Grammar of Old English, Volume 1: Phonology was a landmark publication that in the intervening years has not been surpassed in its depth of scholarship and usefulness to the field. With the 2011 posthumous publication of Richard M. Hogg s Volume 2: Morphology , Volume 1 is again in print, now in paperback, so that scholars can own this complete work. Volume 1: Phonology is designed to take account of major developments both in the field of Old English studies and in linguistic theory. Taking full advantage of the Dictionary of Old English project at Toronto, the book includes full cross–references to the DOE data, and items which are not in the Toronto databases are specially indicated. This volume fully utilizes work in phonemic and generative theory and related topics, and it provides material which could be crucial for future research both in diachronic and synchronic phonology and in historical sociolinguistics.

Preface viii

List of abbreviations xi

1 Introduction 1

2 Orthography and phonology 10

3 The vowels in Germanic 52

I Primitive Germanic (§§1 4) 52

II Vowel harmony (§§5 12) 53

III Loss of nasals and compensatory lengthening (§§13 15) 55

IV Diphthongization (§§16 19) 56

V Influence of ∗/z/ (§§20 1) 59

VI Long vowels (§§22 6) 59

VII Unstressed vowels (§§27 33) 62

VIII Raising of back vowels (§34) 64

4 The consonants in Germanic 66

I Primitive Germanic (§§1 3) 66

II Verner s Law (§§4 5) 67

III Germanic approximants (§§6 9) 68

IV Consonant loss (§10) 70

V West Germanic gemination (§§11 14) 71

VI Miscellanea (§§15 19) 72

5 Old English vowels 74

I First fronting and associated changes (§§3 15) 75

II Breaking (§§16 34) 82

III Restoration of A (§§35 40) 93

IV Lowering of second elements of diphthongs (§§41 6) 99

V Palatal diphthongization (§§47 73) 104

VI I–umlaut (§§74 86) 118

VII Second fronting (§§87 92) 135

VIII Anglian smoothing (§§93 102) 139

IX Back umlaut (§§103 12) 149

X Palatal umlaut (§§113 18) 163

XI Palatal monophthongization (§§119 23) 166

XII Compensatory lengthening (§§124 30) 169

XIII Hiatus (§§131 54) 172

XIV Merger of /io/ and /eo/ (§§155 62) 185

XV West Saxon developments of high front vowels and diphthongs (§§163 75) 190

XVI The influence of /w/ (§§176 87) 198

XVII The development of Kentish front vowels (§§188 96) 203

XVIII Changes in quantity (§§197 205) 206

XIX Monophthongization of diphthongs (§§206 14) 210

XX Merger of /æ/ and /w/ (§§215 16) 213

6 Unstressed vowels 214

I First fronting and associated changes (§§2 6) 214

II Breaking, palatal diphthongization, i–umlaut, and back umlaut (§§7 12) 217

III Syncope and apocope (§§13 25) 220

IV Shortening (§§26 33) 227

V Epenthesis and syllabification (§§34 45) 230

VI Mergers of unstressed vowels (§§46 62) 235

VII Unstressed medial vowels (§§63 71) 242

7 Old English consonants 246

I Dissimilation (§§4 14) 247

II Palatalization and assibilation (§§15 43) 252

III Development of fricatives (i): lenition (§§44 53) 270

IV Development of fricatives (ii): voicing and devoicing (§§54 68) 276

V Post–vocalic approximants (§§69 76) 283

VI Consonant clusters (§§77 97) 287

VII Loss of final nasals (§§98 100) 298

VIII Late Old English changes (§§101 3) 299

References 301

Word index 315

The late Richard M. Hogg was Professor of English Language at the University of Manchester. He was the General Editor of the Cambridge History of the English Language and author, with C. B. McCully, of Metrical Phonology: A Coursebook (1987), and editor, with David Denison, of A History of the English Language (2008).