Reshaping of the Nominal Inflection in Early Northern West Germanic: 31

"The book is a comprehensive corpus study of analogical developments in the nominal morphology of four Northern West Germanic languages: Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian. It examines the patterns of reorganisation of the nominal paradigms, focusing on the analogical interdeclensional shifts of nouns affiliated with historical minor classes. The wide scope and comparative nature of the study facilitate identifying the major patterns of inflectional restructuring, both language-specific and those of a more general character, demonstrating that the process was far from random. By framing the investigated phenomena quantitatively, the study affords insight into the dynamics of the changes, their scope in individual languages, the mechanisms underlying the restructuring process and the factors conditioning it. The book may be of interest to both historical linguists who may appreciate its descriptive aspects as well as morphologists concerned with the mechanisms of morphological processes, especially analogy"-- Provided by publisher 4.5.2.3 An excursus on the alternation in the singular paradigm of heavy-syllable feminine stems -- 4.5.3 u-stems -- 4.5.3.1 General characteristics -- 4.5.3.2 Results of the investigation -- 4.5.4 Root nouns -- 4.5.4.1 General characteristics -- 4.5.4.2 Results of the investigation -- 4.5.5 r-stems -- 4.5.5.1 General characteristics -- 4.5.5.2 Results of the investigation -- 4.5.6 s-stems -- 4.5.6.1 General characteristics -- 4.5.6.2 Results of the investigation -- 4.5.7 nd-stems -- 4.5.7.1 General characteristics -- 4.5.7.2 Results of the investigation -- 4.5.8 Dental stems -- 4.6 Summary of the results and overview of the tendencies -- 4.7 Taxonomic implications of the study -- 4.8 Conclusions -- Chapter 5. Nominal inflection in Old Saxon -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 The placement of Old Saxon in West Germanic -- 5.3 Corpus and methodological considerations -- 5.4 Restructuring process in Old Saxon: Patterns -- 5.5 Phonological developments in unstressed syllables -- 5.6 Data analysis -- 5.6.1 Methodological considerations -- 5.6.2 i-stems -- 5.6.2.1 General characteristics -- 5.6.2.2 Results of the investigation -- 5.6.3 u-stems -- 5.6.3.1 General characteristics -- 5.6.3.2 Results of the investigation -- 5.6.3.3 Excursus on the i-marker in the dat. sg. and nom. pl. -- 5.6.4 Root nouns -- 5.6.4.1 General characteristics -- 5.6.4.2 Results of the investigation -- 5.6.5 r-stems -- 5.6.5.1 General characteristics -- 5.6.5.2 Results of the investigation -- 5.6.6 s-stems -- 5.6.6.1 General characteristics -- 5.6.6.2 Results of the investigation -- 5.6.7 nd-stems -- 5.6.7.1 General characteristics -- 5.6.7.2 Results of the investigation -- 5.6.8 Dental stems -- 5.7 Summary of the results and overview of the tendencies -- 5.8 Taxonomic implications of the study -- 5.9 Conclusions -- Chapter 6. Nominal inflection in Old Low Franconian -- 6.1 Introduction Reshaping of the Nominal Inflection in Early Northern West Germanic 2 Editorial page 3 Title page 4 LCC data 5 Dedication page 6 Table of contents 8 Acknowledgments 14 List of abbreviations 16 List of tables 18 List of figures 28 Introduction 30 0.1 General remarks 30 0.2 Aims of the study 34 0.3 Existing research 38 0.4 Organisation of the book 41 Chapter 1. Theory and methodology of the research 44 1.1 Nominal system in Old Germanic languages 44 1.2 Nominal paradigms in Old Germanic languages 47 1.3 Morphological restructuring of the nominal system in early Germanic 50 1.3.1 Introduction 50 1.3.2 Interparadigmatic transfers 51 1.3.3 Intraparadigmatic transfers 55 1.3.4 Syncretism in nominal inflection in Old Germanic languages 56 1.4 Theoretical framework 58 1.4.1 Introduction 58 1.4.2 Analogy 61 1.4.3 Markedness 64 1.4.4 Iconicity, uniformity and transparency of the paradigms 68 1.4.5 Productivity and paradigm stability 70 1.4.6 Factors conditioning the restructuring process 75 1.4.6.1 Frequency effects in nominal morphology 77 1.4.6.2 Salience of inflectional marking 82 1.4.6.3 Other factors: gender, semantics, syllable structure 87 1.5 Methodology of the research 89 1.5.1 Terms and definitions 89 1.5.2 The corpora: Characteristics and methodological considerations 93 1.5.3 Scope of the study and procedures 97 Chapter 2. Nominal inflection in Proto-Germanic 106 2.1 Introduction 106 2.2 Reorganisation of the nominal inflection in Proto-Germanic 108 2.2.1 The Proto-Germanic nominal system: General characteristics 108 2.2.2 Restructuring of the system: Tendencies and patterns 112 2.2.3 Restructuring of the system: Minor declensional types 121 2.2.3.1 i-stems 121 2.2.3.2 u-stems 127 2.2.3.3 Root nouns 130 2.2.3.4 r-stems 132 2.2.3.5 s-stems 134 2.2.3.6 nd-stems 138 2.2.3.7 þ-stems 140 2.2.4 Interparadigmatic realignments in Proto-Germanic: A cross-declensional overview 141 nom. & acc. sg. 146 gen. & dat. sg. 147 nom. & acc. pl. 148 gen. & dat. pl. 148 2.2.5 Discussion 150 Stage 1 151 Stage 2 152 Stage 3 153 2.3 Conclusion 155 Chapter 3. Nominal inflection in Old English 158 3.1 Introduction 158 3.2 Diatopic and diachronic dimension of the study 159 3.2.1 Early and Late Old English 159 3.2.2 Anglian and Saxon material 160 3.3 Characteristics of the restructuring process in Old English 162 3.4 Old English phonological developments in unstressed syllables 164 3.5 Data analysis 166 3.5.1 Corpus and methodological considerations 166 3.5.2 i-stems 169 3.5.2.1 General characteristics 169 3.5.2.2 Restructuring of the i-stem paradigm 171 3.5.2.3 Results of the investigation 178 3.5.3 u-stems 186 3.5.3.1 General remarks 186 3.5.3.2 Results of the investigation 190 3.5.3.3 An excursus on sunu 203 3.5.4 Root nouns 204 3.5.4.1 General characteristics 204 3.5.4.2 Results of the investigation 208 3.5.5 r-stems 218 3.5.5.1 General characteristics 218 3.5.5.2 Results of the investigation 221 3.5.6 s-stems 227 3.5.6.1 General characteristics 227 3.5.6.2 Results of the investigation 232 3.5.6.3 An excursus on Old English cild 240 3.5.7 nd-stems 242 3.5.7.1 General characteristics 242 3.5.7.2 Results of the investigation 245 3.5.8 Dental stems 250 3.6 Summary of the results and overview of the tendencies 253 3.7 Taxonomic implications of the study 268 3.8 Conclusions 274 Chapter 4. Nominal inflection in Old Frisian 278 4.1 Introduction 278 4.2 Corpus and methodological considerations 281 4.3 Restructuring process in Old Frisian: Emerging patterns 285 4.4 Old Frisian phonological developments and their morphological implications 286 4.5 Data analysis 288 4.5.1 Methodological considerations 288 4.5.2 i-stems 290 4.5.2.1 General characteristics 290 4.5.2.2 Results of the investigation 293 4.5.2.3 An excursus on the alternation in the singular paradigm of heavy-syllable feminine stems 297 4.5.3 u-stems 300 4.5.3.1 General characteristics 300 4.5.3.2 Results of the investigation 304 4.5.4 Root nouns 307 4.5.4.1 General characteristics 307 4.5.4.2 Results of the investigation 309 4.5.5 r-stems 315 4.5.5.1 General characteristics 315 4.5.5.2 Results of the investigation 316 4.5.6 s-stems 320 4.5.6.1 General characteristics 320 4.5.6.2 Results of the investigation 322 4.5.7 nd-stems 324 4.5.7.1 General characteristics 324 4.5.7.2 Results of the investigation 325 4.5.8 Dental stems 327 4.6 Summary of the results and overview of the tendencies 328 4.7 Taxonomic implications of the study 335 4.8 Conclusions 336 Chapter 5. Nominal inflection in Old Saxon 340 5.1 Introduction 340 5.2 The placement of Old Saxon in West Germanic 344 5.3 Corpus and methodological considerations 349 5.4 Restructuring process in Old Saxon: Patterns 351 5.5 Phonological developments in unstressed syllables 354 5.6 Data analysis 358 5.6.1 Methodological considerations 358 5.6.2 i-stems 360 5.6.2.1 General characteristics 360 5.6.2.2 Results of the investigation 366 5.6.3 u-stems 374 5.6.3.1 General characteristics 374 5.6.3.2 Results of the investigation 380 5.6.3.3 Excursus on the i-marker in the dat. sg. and nom. pl. 384 5.6.4 Root nouns 388 5.6.4.1 General characteristics 388 5.6.4.2 Results of the investigation 390 5.6.5 r-stems 395 5.6.5.1 General characteristics 395 5.6.5.2 Results of the investigation 396 5.6.6 s-stems 398 5.6.6.1 General characteristics 398 5.6.6.2 Results of the investigation 399 5.6.7 nd-stems 402 5.6.7.1 General characteristics 402 5.6.7.2 Results of the investigation 405 5.6.8 Dental stems 408 5.7 Summary of the results and overview of the tendencies 408 5.8 Taxonomic implications of the study 416 5.9 Conclusions 418 Chapter 6. Nominal inflection in Old Low Franconian 422 6.1 Introduction 422 6.2 Corpus and methodological considerations 426 6.3 Restructuring process in Old Low Franconian: Patterns 429 6.4 Phonological developments in Old Low Franconian 432 6.5 Data analysis 435 6.5.1 Methodological considerations 435 6.5.2 The status of the i-stems in Old Low Franconian 437 6.5.3 u-stems 442 6.5.3.1 An excursus on the dat. sg. and nom. pl. 447 6.5.4 Root nouns 449 6.5.5 r-stems 453 6.5.6 s-stems 457 6.5.7 nd-stems 461 6.5.8 Dental stems 463 6.6 Summary of the results and overview of the tendencies 464 6.7 Taxonomic implications of the study 471 6.8 Conclusions 472 Chapter 7. Patterns of reorganisation of the nominal system in early Northern West Germanic: A comparative overview 476 7.1 Introduction 476 7.2 Overview of the tendencies 477 7.3 Explaining the divergent development of the nominal inflection across Northern West Germanic 496 Chapter 8. Mechanisms and dynamics of the restructuring process in West Germanic 510 8.1 Introduction 510 8.2 The course of restructuring: The prehistoric stage 511 8.3 The historical stage of restructuring: Emerging patterns 514 8.4 Framing the mechanisms of the process 516 8.5 Functionality of the system 520 8.6 Factors conditioning the restructuring process 525 8.6.1 Frequency of occurrence 526 8.6.2 Salience of inflectional markers 530 8.6.3 Semantics 535 8.6.4 Other controlling factors 537 8.6.4.1 Gender 537 8.6.4.2 Prosodic structure: stem weight 539 8.6.5 Interactions between conditioning factors 541 8.7 Implications for the taxonomy of nouns in early Northern West Germanic 543 8.8 Concluding remarks 545 Conclusions 548 Appendix 558 Early transfers 558 Historical transfers Old English 560 Old frisian 563 Old Saxon 566 Old Low Franconian 570 References 572 Index 596