West Saxon
- Language Family
- Indo-European
- Subgroup
- West Germanic
- Area
- —
Summary
West Saxon resembles a few other Old English dialects (e.g. the Mercian dialect) in that it underwent i-mutation with slight vowel differences. The stem /a/ vowel after metathesis is argued to be deleted.
Type(s) of metathesis
| Type | Status | Optionality | Position | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. CV | Diachronic | Obligatory | Adjacent | Root-internal, between root and suffix |
Case types and qualities
-
- CV
-
- V:
- Low
- V:
- High front
Examples
lufa-i-an > lufige 'love' (cf. lufian)
Conditions
No conditions could be found
Motivations
No motivations could be found
Symbols
Comments
Bibliography
Keyser, Samuel J. 1975. Metathesis and Old English phonology. Linguistic Inquiry 6:377-411.