On the loss of preaspiration in Early Middle English

Abstract

This article looks into the loss of preaspiration in words like *hnecce, ‘neck’, *hlēapan, ‘leap’, or *hræfn, ‘raven’ in Early Middle English. With the exception of /hw-/, which survives in contemporary varieties, preaspirated variants were lost between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. It is suggested that the phonotactic reduction of initial */hn-/, */hr-/ and */hl-/ clusters (which effectively resulted in a merger with /n/, /r/, and /l/) is both a language-internal and an externally-adduced process, in that an ongoing change in English was catalysed through language contact with Norman French. This claim is based on spelling conventions in Old and Early Modern English texts, which not only attest to the chronological development of this change but also indicate that the loss of preaspiration in English adhered to common and persistent patterns of language change. Additional evidence for this hypothesis comes from levelling-out of preaspirated variants in contact scenarios that involved inputs with preaspirated and non-preaspirated variants (exemplified by New Zealand), and from cases where contact between English, Dutch and French affected the rate and trajectory of ongoing changes in East Anglian English.

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