Old Frisian Breaking and Labial Mutation Revisited

Abstract

The sound changes of ‘breaking’ and ‘labial mutation’ in Old Frisian are often referred to as distinct and unrelated phenomena only having been subject to similar processes. In the study at hand, this view is revisited by taking into account arguments on the basis of Old Frisian syllable structure and the particular environments in which these changes arise. The findings suggest that both Old Frisian breaking and labial mutation are concatenations of very similar consecutive but independent changes. This article argues for a reinterpretation of the two processes as caused by the same core phonetic process which is in its essence a backness levelling phenomenon. The two proposed phonological rules governing this process cross-cut previous assumptions about the triggers of epenthesis and thus provide a better fit to the data than positing two unrelated changes does.