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Deflection in Flemish between the 13th and 20th centuries: An interplay between analogical and articulatory factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Marinel Gerritsen
Marinel Gerritsen
Affiliation:
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and University of Nijmegen
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Abstract

This article deals with the linguistic embedding, transition, and actuation of the obliteration of the gerund ending -e in the West Flemish dialect of Bruges between the 13th and 20th centuries. The following factors appear to have played a part in the change: syllable structure of the verb, nasalization of the last consonant of the stem, and frequency of the verb. The study shows that deflection (loss of inflections) started in the 14th century and is almost complete today. There are strong indications that the obliteration of the gerund ending was originally caused by analogical factors, but that articulatory factors played a leading role in the ensuing centuries. The areal spread of the linguistic factors that condition the occurrence of the gerund ending in the dialects in the region around Bruges nowadays suggests that the diachronic development in Bruges is not idiosyncratic for Bruges but holds for a much larger area.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , March 1992 , pp. 15 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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