| It is readily apparent that syllable structure plays a role in an exceptionally large number of phonological phenomena in the early Germanic languages, ranging from reduplication to vowel lengthening. However, this area of research has been largely neglected by most scholars currently involved with phonological theory. The main goal of this dissertation is to begin to remedy this long-standing neglect, by developing an analysis of one of the classic problems of historical Germanic phonology, Sievers' Law, using a modern formal phonological framework, Optimality Theory (OT). Since Sievers' Law is best preserved (in Germanic) in Gothic and Old Norse, these two languages are the focus of the research reported on here. I argue that most cases of Sievers' Law in these two languages can be attributed to the interaction of, and conflict between, three universal constraints on syllable structure, namely that syllables must have onsets, that stressed syllables must be heavy, and that syllables may not have codas. Thus, Sievers' Law is a direct result of syllabification in these languages. This solution provides a more principled account of the data while avoiding some of the problems that have plagued previous approaches to them. Other issues discussed in this dissertation include the evidence for Sievers' Law in Old Norse found in the early runic material; the so-called “exceptions to Sievers' Law”; and the relationship between syllable structure and stress placement. This work contributes to both historical Germanic linguistics and to phonological theory, as it demonstrates what advances in formalist phonological frameworks can contribute to historical linguistics, and also provides a test for OT, due to the nature of the Germanic material discussed. |
