Loss of s–r Alternation in Old English Strong Verbs

Abstract

This paper examines the consonant alternation in Old English strong verbs that is attributed to Verner’s Law. It focuses on the three verbs, Class I rīsan “rise”, Class V lesan “collect”, and Class V nesan “escape”, which do not exhibit the expected voicing and rhotacism of the stem-final s in the preterite plural and past participle. This problem has long been explained by internal levelling. Although this view is generally accepted, the reason why only Class I and V verbs, with the exception of OE wesan “be”, lost the s–r consonant alternation in the preterite plural and past participle whilst all Class II verbs retained this type of alternation remains unclear.
　 This paper presents a new hypothesis regarding the loss of the s–r consonant alternation in the three verbs in question. It considers the relationship between the process of rhotacism, which is thought to have occurred in the pre-OE period, and the phonetic environment of verbs that experienced the loss of the consonant alternation. This leads to the conclusion that the loss of the s–r alternation is related to the allophonic distribution of the /r/ sound in Old English, which triggered analogical levelling.