On the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday
Yüklə 42,89 Mb. Pdf görüntüsü
|
117 other changes of quality type, I—^-alternation shows greater variation, ablaut forms being o-forms or «-forms; the remaining types show greater regularity, ablaut forms invariably conforming to the default rule given above. Obviously, among changes of quality type, I—>U-altemation must be assigned a special status. In fact, given well-known criteria of markedness (Greenberg 1966), these observations indicate that I—»U-altemation must be considered the unmarked change of quality type. With regard to quantitative ablaut, there are two types to be distin- guished, viz. shortening, which provides forms of normalised length, on the one hand, and lengthening, which provides forms of marked length, on the other. The junction between change of quality type and change of quantity type turns out to be straightforward. The unmarked change of quality type (I—^-alternation) is coupled with shortening; otherwise change of quality type is coupled with lengthening.25 Remarkably, there is not a single stem that shows 1—»U-alternation combined with lengthening, nor a single stem that shows another change of quality type combined with shortening. We find it confirmed that I—»U-alternation is opposed to all of the remaining changes of quality type. As it is the unmarked type of qualitative ablaut and combines with normalisation of length, it may be referred to as simple ablaut. Of course, lengthening as well as shortening can apply only if a stem be- longs to the class of stems that are subject to quantitative ablaut at all. If a stem from this class shows I—>U-alternation. then the ablaut form is invariably short. Unless the base is short anyway, there will be a change of quantity type. E.g., the stems FLIESSL (long base, /fli:s/) and SPRECHL (short base, /jpre5/) show I-^U-alternation; as the vowels are followed by voiceless fricatives, these stems are subject to quantitative ablaut; in this case, either both base and ablaut form are short (/fpre^/—>/JprD9/) or a long base alternates with a short ablaut form (/flits/—>/fbs/). In summary, ablaut forms due to simple ablaut are short if possible.26 25 This holds also of the four stems in sonorants that are subject to quantitative ablaut, viz. n e h m l ,
k o m m l, FALLl , HALTl . E.g., NEHM l with a long base and I—»U-ablaut shows shortening (nehm—>nomm), falll
with a short base and A—»I-ablaut shows lengthening (/a//—►//«/). As noted above, there is one stem ( biet 1) that is exceptionally exempted from quantitative ablaut. BlEr1" shows I—>U-alternation (biet—*bot) but no shortening, which would be expected on account of the post-vocalic voiceless obstruent (cf. Grimm 1870: 903). Incidentally, the preference for short vowels is generally rather weak in the case of/t/ as compared to other voiceless consonants (d’Alquen 1979: 196, with references). On SIED l
26 «//'-alternation is coupled with shortening, too. Hence t ret l
and n e h ml
show /e:/—>/i/- alternation as they are from the class of stems that are subject to quantitative ablaut. Long—►short-alternation with ge bl
(Curme 1922: 253) or even LES l is now considered non-standard; see the pronouncing dictionaries and cf. also Paul (1917: 229): colloquial 118 All of the remaining changes of quality type (I—>A, A->I, A—>U, U—>1, U—>A) trigger lengthening, i.e., ablaut forms are long if possible. If a stem that is subject to quantitative ablaut shows one of these alternations, then the ablaut form concerned is invariably long. Unless the base is long anyway, there will be a change of quantity type. Hence all of the following ablaut forms are long: sprach (from sprech by I—»A-altemation), briet (from brat by A—>1- altemation), schuf (from schaff by A—^-alternation), rief (from ruf by U—>1- altemation), and kam (from komm by U—»A-alternation); the corresponding bases are partly short, partly long. As a result, stem vowels of ablaut forms due to these alternations are, as a rule, so-called point vowels, that is, vowels of extreme qualities, located, as it were, at the points of the vowel triangle (thus maximally differentiated vowels in Martinet’s sense).27 These are /i:/, /u:/ and the a-vowels, /a:/ and /a/ (which, in Standard German, are differentiated only in terms of length, Kohler 1995: 170). This regularity overrides even strong phonotactic preferences (or aversions, cf. Curme 1922: 14-15), producing stem forms like hielt /hi:lt/, base: halt, and wuchs /wu:ks/, base: wachs, which have long vowels although the stem terminates in a consonantal cluster; cf. also wusch /wu:j7, base:
vowels before /if, which rules out quantitative ablaut; only in this extremely rare case, A—>I-ablaut produces an ablaut form in a non-point vowel (cf.
/faiy—»-/fir)/). If ablaut vowels are point vowels, this will tend to maximise formal con- trasts between base and ablaut forms. Further, as noted above, lengthening usually produces ablaut forms of marked length; thus in these cases the means available for ablaut are, as it were, made use of in full. Hence I refer to this type, covering all changes of quality type except I—»U-altemation, as full
Vowels of ablaut forms due to I—»U-altemation are invariably non-point vowels (viz. /o/, /o:/, /u/); thus the ablaut forms concerned cannot be confused North German. Secondary stem forms that are formed by means of umlaut do not show quantitative change. 27 Cf. Martinet (1957: 264): “[vowels that occupy] the corners of the vocalic triangle”. As has often been noticed, point vowels have a privileged position in vowel systems (cf., in particular, Jakobson 1941), and it is assumed that the preference for point vowels is related to their favourable articulatory and auditive properties (cf. Stevens 1972). Apparently, ablaut forms that show point vowels are optimal if reliable differentiation and salience are ‘desiderata’.
Yüklə 42,89 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
|