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This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2026

Title: It’s all a matter of timing: How some Dutch and German varieties developed tonal contrasts
Certain varieties in the Dutch and German language area distinguish two groups of words on the basis of different tonal melodies, a phenomenon called (Franconian) tonal accent. Despite extensive efforts, scholars are still far from reaching consensus on how this contrast may have developed. We show how both the accent genesis and distributional variation across dialects can be modeled by assuming that intrinsic durational differences between two sets of vowels formed the basis of the opposition. A key insight emerging from our scenario is that vowel-lengthening processes in open syllables must have been ongoing when apocope was completed, counter to the received view in Germanic historical phonology. Our analysis also addresses various broader issues concerning mechanisms of prosodic change, the interaction of sound changes, and the reliability of manuscript evidence.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1845107
PAR ID:
10625424
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Linguistic Society of America
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Language
Volume:
101
Issue:
2
ISSN:
1535-0665
Page Range / eLocation ID:
215 to 250
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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