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Open Syllable Lengthening in Middle Dutch: Evidence from Verse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2018

Johanneke Sytsema  and
Aditi Lahiri
Johanneke Sytsema*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Aditi Lahiri*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
*
Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Institute, Walton Street, Oxford OX1 2HG, UK, [[email protected]], [[email protected]]
Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Institute, Walton Street, Oxford OX1 2HG, UK, [[email protected]], [[email protected]]
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Abstract

This paper attempts to determine a more precise timeline for the onset of Open Syllable Lengthening in Dutch. We examined two late 14th-century Brabantic texts in the Manuscript Marshall 29 (1375 AD), Mellibeus and Saladijn, and compared these with an older Brabantic text Lutgart to ascertain when exactly Open Syllable Lengthening originated in (Brabantic) Middle Dutch. A combination of diachronic correspondences and a careful examination of the texts written in verse during the course of approximately 75 years has helped us to establish the synchronic systems of 13th- and 14th-century Middle Dutch, and, furthermore, has allowed us to determine the onset of prosodic changes such as Open Syllable Lengthening. Orthographic, rhythmic, and metrical evidence from the three texts suggests that the process was incomplete in the earliest period and was finalized in the late 14th century in Brabant, thereby refuting the standard assumption that the lengthening was completed before the onset of Middle Dutch in general.*

Keywords

Open Syllable LengtheningMiddle Dutchiambic metertrochaic meter
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 167 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2018 

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