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Verb Contraction in the West Saxon Dialect of Old English: an Optimality Theory Account

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Verb Contraction in the West Saxon Dialect of Old English: an Optimality Theory Account University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2007 Verb Contraction in the West Saxon Dialect of Old English: An Optimality Theory Account Melinda Mix The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Mix, Melinda, "Verb Contraction in the West Saxon Dialect of Old English: An Optimality Theory Account" (2007). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 1168. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1168 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VERB CONTRACTION IN THE WEST SAXON DIALECT OF OLD ENGLISH: AN OPTIMALITY THEORY ACCOUNT By Melinda Kay Mix Bachelor of Science, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania, 2002 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Linguistics The University of Montana Missoula, MT Summer 2007 Approved by: Dr. David A. Strobel, Dean Graduate School Mizuki Miyashita, Chair Linguistics Program Gary Bevington Linguistics Program Ashby Kinch Department of English Mix, Melinda, M.A., Summer 2007 Linguistics Verb Contraction in the West Saxon Dialect of Old English: An Optimality Theory Account Chairperson: Mizuki Miyashita The phenomena of verb contraction in the West Saxon dialect of Old English has been described in many grammars of the language. However, most of these use a traditional rule-based analysis of the sound changes which occur. This thesis re-analyzes the data in terms of Optimality Theory (OT), which uses a system of constraint ranking to account for sound changes. The advantage of using OT is that it offers a single ranking to explain sound changes that would require separate rules and ordering in a more traditional analysis. Section 1 introduces the motivation for approaching this data from OT. Section 2 outlines relevant grammatical features of Old English, and the West Saxon dialect in particular. Section 3 applies OT to the data itself. The data is organized according to the final consonant of the verb stem in order to allow a process of analysis that builds a constraint ranking able to account for the changes in all the verbs under consideration, including vowel deletion, assimilation, dissimilation, and simplification of consonant clusters. Section 4 discusses the theoretical contribution of this study and suggests related areas in which the analysis could be further applied. ii Dedication To Greg, because I couldn’t have done this without your love and support, and Baby Girl, who came along for the ride. iii Table of Contents Table of Contents...............................................................................................................iv List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... vi (1.0) INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 1 (1.1) Significance of Study ............................................................................................. 1 (2.0) CONTRACTION PHENOMENA IN WEST SAXON DIALECT OF OLD ENGLISH.................................................................................................................. 2 (2.1) Grammatical Sketch of Old English....................................................................... 2 (2.1.1) Old English Geminates and Vowel Length..................................................... 3 (2.1.2) Old English Stress ........................................................................................... 5 (2.1.3) Proto-Germanic Verb Inflection...................................................................... 7 (2.1.4) Pre-Old English Sound Changes in Verb Stems and Suffixes ........................ 7 (2.1.4.1) Verb Stem Changes.................................................................................. 8 (2.1.4.2) Verb Suffix Changes .............................................................................. 11 (2.2) West Saxon Dialect Contraction .......................................................................... 14 (2.2.1) Dialects of Old English ................................................................................. 14 (2.2.2) Dialect Features of West Saxon .................................................................... 17 (2.2.2.1) Verb Contraction.................................................................................... 18 (3.0) ANALYSIS OF WEST SAXON VERB CONTRACTION WITHIN OPTIMALITY THEORY................................................................................................................. 19 (3.1) Optimality Theory................................................................................................ 19 (3.2) West Saxon 3sg Verb Contraction ....................................................................... 21 (3.2.2) Group 1.......................................................................................................... 22 (3.2.2.1) Vowel Loss and Reduction in Dialects of Old English.......................... 23 (3.2.2.2) West Saxon Vowel Deletion and Optimality Theory............................. 26 (3.2.3) Group 2.......................................................................................................... 28 (3.2.3.1) Sonority Sequencing Principle............................................................... 28 (3.2.3.2) Correspondence Theory ......................................................................... 35 (3.2.3.3) Constraint Interaction............................................................................. 36 (3.2.3.4) Ranking of NOVOWEL (2SG3SG) ............................................................ 42 (3.2.4) Group 3.......................................................................................................... 43 (3.2.4.1) Voicing Markedness Constraint............................................................. 43 (3.2.4.2) Ranking of SEQ(voice) and *LAR(C)-CODA with Existing Constraints.. 47 (3.2.5) Group 4.......................................................................................................... 49 (3.2.5.1) Simplification of Consonant Clusters Containing Geminates in Old English.................................................................................................... 50 (3.2.6) Group 5.......................................................................................................... 59 (3.2.6.1) Geminate Consonant Cluster Simplification in Fake Geminates........... 59 (3.2.7) Group 6.......................................................................................................... 62 (3.2.7.1) The Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) .............................................. 63 (3.2.8) Evaluation of all Candidates in Groups 1-6 .................................................. 68 (3.2.8.1) Group 1................................................................................................... 68 iv (3.2.8.2) Group 2................................................................................................... 69 (3.2.8.3) Group 3................................................................................................... 70 (3.2.8.4) Group 4................................................................................................... 71 (3.2.8.5) Group 5................................................................................................... 71 (3.2.8.6) Group 6................................................................................................... 72 (3.2.9) Evaluation of other verb stems...................................................................... 73 (3.2.9.1) Group 7................................................................................................... 74 (3.2.9.2) Group 8................................................................................................... 75 (3.2.9.3) Group 9................................................................................................... 75 (3.2.9.4) Group 10................................................................................................. 76 (3.2.9.5) Group 11................................................................................................. 78 (4.0) CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 80 (4.1) 2sg Present Indicative Verb Contraction in West Saxon ..................................... 80 (4.2) Application to Sound Changes in Other Words................................................... 82 (4.3) Diachronic Language Change within Optimality Theory.................................... 83 (4.4) Comparison to Sociolinguistic Analysis .............................................................. 84 (4.5) Theoretical Contribution ...................................................................................... 84 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 86 v List
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