Alliteration Sound Change Early Eng (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: New Ed, 8/21/2008
EAN 9780521032247, ISBN10: 0521032245
Paperback, 424 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm
Language: English
This 2003 study uses evidence from early English verse to reconstruct the course of some central phonological changes in the history of the language. It builds on the premise that alliteration reflects faithfully the acoustic identity and similarity of stressed syllable onsets. Individual chapters cover the history of the velars, the structure and history of vowel-initial syllable onsets, the behaviour of onset clusters, and the chronology and motivation of cluster reduction (gn-, kn-, hr-, hl-, hn-, hw-, wr-, wl-). Examination of the patterns of group alliteration in Old and Middle English reveals a hierarchy of cluster-internal cohesiveness which leads to new conclusions regarding the causes for the special treatment of sp-, st-, sk- in alliteration. The analysis draws on phonetically based Optimality-Theoretic models. The book presents valuable information about the medieval poetic canon and elucidates the relationship between orality and literacy in the evolution of English verse.
List of figures
List of tables
List of abbreviations
Preface
1. Social and linguistic setting of alliterative verse in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval England
2. Linguistic structures in English alliterative verse
3. Segmental histories
velar palatalization
4. Syllable structure
5. ONSET and cluster alliteration in Old English
the case of sp-, st-, sk-
6. ONSET and cluster alliteration in Middle English
7. Verse evidence for cluster simplification in Middle English
References
Index of names
Subject index.