Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1982, Blaðsíða 268

266 Margrét Jónsdóttir
(4) The digraph XY may represent a falling diphthong, beginning with
vowel X and gliding in the direction roughly indicated by Y. This is most
strongly suspected in words like ceosan, deop, leof, deor, beod, beor,
where the testimony of the other old Germanic languages supports a
reconstructecd Proto-Gmc./ew/ or/iw/.
(5) The digraph XY may represent a monophthongal vowel something
like the vowels written respectively with X and with Y, but distinctively
different from both.
Ennfremur (sama rit 594-595):
Turning now to io, eo, ea, we first observe that the traditional interpre-
tation — supported by the known etymology of the ‘long’ diphthongs—
has turned cntirely on principle 4 [. . .]. I think it at least equally likely
that these digraphs were introduced on the basis of principle 5, as a
continuation of the practice established with ae, oe, and y.
Ljóst er því, að hann getur ekki skorið endanlega úr um, hvort um
einhljóð eða tvíhljóð er að ræða. Af allri umfjöllun Hocketts er þó
Ijóst, að hann hallast mjög sterklega að einhljóðstúlkun (1959:595):
From the point of view of realism in phonetic change, particulary in
assimilations, it is certainly as likely that a back-umlauting of front un-
rounded vowels should produce unrounded back vowels as it is that a
front-umlauting of back rounded vowels should produce rounded front
vowels.
1.4
1.4.1
Skoðanir Antonsens eru mjög líkar skoðunum Hocketts, enda þótt
túlkun hans á einstökum fónemum sé á annan veg farið. Hann telur
stuttu tvítáknin einhljóðstákn: io /uí/, eo /a/,2 hvort tveggja ókringt
og uppmælt; ea hins vegar miðlægt /a/. Að mati Antonsens urðu þessi
hljóð að fónemum á fornensku stigi, en voru fyrir hendi sem allófónar
jafnvel á frumgermönsku stigi (Antonsen 1961:218-228).
1.4.2
Um kerfi löngu táknanna segir Antonsen (1961:217):
I find Hockett’s presentation of the development of Proto-Germanic
/au, eu, iu/ to Old Engilsh /a-, a-, (i-)/[- • •] very convincing, and much
2 í síðari ritum táknar Antonsen þetta hljóð með/y/.