Language Change within the Theory of Government Phonology

Karolina Drabikowska

Karolina Drabikowska The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities

Keywords: Early Middle English; phonological change; vowels; element function

Abstract

The present paper is concerned with phonological change from the point of view of Government Phonology, as defined by Kaye, Lowenstamm, Vergnaud (1985, 1990), Harris (1994), Cyran (1997, 2010), Gussmann (2002) and Bloch-Rozmej (2008) among others. The research has a form of a diachronic case study, namely the case of the Early Middle English development, traditionally referred to as the elimination of the front rounded vowel in four dialects of Middle English, that is, the East Midland, the North, the West Midland and the South Western dialects. The process disposing of OE /y/ deserves closer attention since it is characterised by a great complexity. In the majority of cases the high front rounded vowel was simply unrounded regardless of the context. In this case we might argue that the palatal element was retained, while roundness was removed. However, especially crucial for the analysis is the change which distinguishes the latter two dialects, namely lOE /y/ → eME /u/ in palatalised environment in the West Midlands and the South West. What is particularly interesting is the fact that the palatal element I in lOE /y/ is not preserved in palatalised context. Conversely, it is roundness that is preserved rather than the palatal element. A closer scrutiny of historical data allows us to determine the role of a licensing constraint and a revised version of the Obligatory Contour Principle in these developments as well as to discover the limitations imposed on both of the abovementioned processes by headedness and constituency.

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