Bibliography

Laker, Stephen, “An explanation for the early phonemicisation of a voice contrast in English fricatives”, English Language and Linguistics 13:2 (2009): 213–226.

journal article

Citation details

Contributors

Laker (Stephen)

Article

“An explanation for the early phonemicisation of a voice contrast in English fricatives”

Periodical

English Language and Linguistics 13:2 (2009)

English Language and Linguistics 13:2 — Re-evaluating the Celtic hypothesis (2009).

Volume

13

Pages

213–226

BibTeX

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Description

Abstract (cited)

Most handbooks and grammars contend that in Old English the voiced fricatives [v, ð, z] were merely allophones of /f, θ, s/ in sonorous environments. How these voiced fricatives became phonemes is debated among scholars. In this article, all previous accounts are critically reviewed. A new proposal is then presented, which explains the facts in a more direct way than previous theses. I argue that phonemicisation of a previous allophonic voice alternation in fricatives had already taken place in many areas of Anglo-Saxon England through language contact with Brittonic. Voiceless as well as voiced fricative phonemes existed in Brittonic at the time of contact, and language shift would have led directly to the phonemicisation of the previous allophonic variation found in early Old English.

Subjects and topics

Headings

Old English Brittonic languages multilingualism and language contact

Approaches

phonetics (discipline) phonology (discipline)

web page identifiers

page name: Laker (Stephen) 2009a

page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Laker_(Stephen)_2009a
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/23443
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=23443
page ID: 23443
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=23443

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Contributors

C. A., Dennis Groenewegen

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