Back to Search
Start Over
Representations of phonological changes in goat and /r/ in the Collection of Nineteenth-century Grammars (CNG).
- Source :
- English Language & Linguistics; Sep2023, Vol. 27 Issue 3, p591-616, 26p
- Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- This article presents an analysis of vowels in the goat set and /r/ in the Collection of Nineteenth-century Grammars (CNG) (cf. Anderwald 2016). My central questions concern the extent to which grammarians provide evidence for early diphthongisation in goat words and for changes in the distribution of /r/ variants in nineteenth-century prestige accents. I furthermore evaluate how far grammars are suitable as a source for researching historical sound changes. I show that monophthongs are the most frequently proposed variants for goat and are often referred to as 'improper diphthongs'. Some diphthongal descriptions exist for words in open syllables, before /l/ and before plosives in words like know , soul and boat respectively. Concerning the distribution of /r/, I show that most grammars continued to propose two sounds, which were almost exclusively described as 'rough' or 'trilled', and 'smooth' or 'soft'. However, some grammarians also argued for /r/ having only one sound in all positions and complete post-vocalic /r/ absence. Overall, the grammars in the CNG display a considerable amount of what I assume to be copying from scholars such as Walker (1791) and Murray (1795). Thus, I argue that great care is required when attempting to infer phonological changes from nineteenth-century grammars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13606743
- Volume :
- 27
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- English Language & Linguistics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 173033624
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674323000357