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Prosodic optimization: the Middle English length adjustment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2008

Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero
Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero
Affiliation:
University of Manchester and Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
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Abstract

During late Old and Middle English, the distribution of short and long vowels in stressed syllables was profoundly altered. The changes involved have traditionally been understood as conspiring to optimize syllable quantity according to the position of the syllable in the word. However, Minkova's reformulation of so-called Middle English Open Syllable Lengthening (MEOSL) as a purely compensatory process appears difficult to reconcile with the traditional approach, which has recently been further compromised by suggestions that Trisyllabic Shortening was not a genuine historical sound change. In this article, Minkova's analysis is supported with new evidence of phonological conditioning behind the irregular lengthening of unapocopated disyllabic stems (e.g. raven vs heaven, body, gannet). I propose solutions to Riad's ‘data problem’ and ‘analytical problem’. Optimality Theory allows Minkova's revised statement of MEOSL to be integrated into a broader, non-teleological account of late Old and Middle English quantitative developments, including coverage of processes of lexical change such as borrowing and diffusion.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , November 1998 , pp. 169 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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