Kayne 1994), each argument is forced to leave VP in the
West Germanic languages, triggered by the checking of strong case features in a matching Spec-head configuration (cf.
According to Fulk (1992:421), such conclusion can be drawn only on the basis of the material availed by North and East Germanic, but not
West Germanic dialects.
This may be probable in the case of Gothic but, if we rightly doubt the fact (and hence the geographical extent) of a Gothic mission in Germany, this leaves unexplained how Old High German toufen and Old Saxon dopian could have arisen from Latin baptizare, so that observation of baptismal practice (immersion, not sprinkling) cannot be ruled out for
West Germanic. At the least, what was called for was a discussion of this term, a recognition that the range of linguistic evidence and the variety of baptismal practices over time and space suggest both possibilities, immersion alongside sprinkling.
The aim of the present paper is to compare word-order patterns of two
West Germanic languages, English and High German, at the early stage of their development, on the example of one clause type, namely non-conjoined declarative clauses.
THE proceedings of the symposium have been supplemented by other contributions so as to make it a useful recent survey of the etymological lexicography of
West Germanic languages.
According to Hogg (1992:40 [[section] 2.74]), the
West Germanic merger of *r and *z and the present-day pronunciation of English /r/ suggest, as the most likely possibility, a coronal fricative, flap or tap in Old English, with a "velarised" allophone in coda positions--in other words, articulations similar to those found in some varieties of modern English.
They included rhotacism, characteristic of the whole Northwest Germanic subbranch, the
West Germanic voicing of the dental fricative *[theta] and its subsequent occlusion in clusters with a nasal and a liquid (l[theta] > ld, n[theta] > nd), as well as voicing of medial voiceless fricatives (f, [theta], s), and finally, loss of the voiceless velar fricative *[chi] in medial position.
Finally, the theory of an early runic language (Gallehus), based on a detailed analysis of the Gallehus inscription and postulating a common ancestor for both North and
West Germanic dialects, is presented as a likely alternative (p.
38) "In OE the voiced consonants [""], [g], [z] then underwent a secondary development to [d], [g], [r] -- hence the opposition of wear"" 'became' and word-en 'become' (p.p.),freas (froze) and fror-en (frozen), etc.": [""]' [z]> [d], [r] in
West Germanic already; the "secondary development" [g] (should be [Y], of course)> [g] looks decidedly odd; (p.
As implied by the data, of great importance to the analysis of Sievers' law in Old English is its relation to
West Germanic gemination which Old English as a
West Germanic dialect underwent, and which was present not just in monosyllabic but also in polysyllabic stems.
It operated in all North and
West Germanic languages, more likely in the individual languages rather than in the period of their linguistic unity.
According to classical accounts on this change, the palatalization of
West Germanic a into OE ae and its later development into e took place in the dialects spoken in the Mercian dialects of the West Midland area and in Kentish.