JOURNAL ARTICLE

Contrastive feature hierarchies and Germanic phonology: Jørgen Rischel's analysis of the Scandinavian runic transformation.

  • Published In: NOWELE: North-Western European Language Evolution, 2024, v. 77, n. 2. P. 145 1 of 3

  • Database: Communication Source 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Dresher, B. Elan 3 of 3

Abstract

I discuss an analysis of changes in the Scandinavian runic alphabet, or futhark, by Jørgen Rischel (1966). Rischel's article accounts for some puzzling changes in the futhark by employing contrastive feature hierarchies represented as branching trees. Feature hierarchies can be traced back to the work of Roman Jakobson and his colleagues. They enjoyed a brief period of prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, but then disappeared from mainstream phonological theory. However, they were employed in a number of interesting studies of Germanic and other languages whose insights we can still profit from today. The goal of this paper is to bring attention to this largely forgotten approach to phonological analysis, and to spell out the principles that underlie it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:NOWELE: North-Western European Language Evolution. 2024/07, Vol. 77, Issue 2, p145
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Language and Linguistics
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0108-8416
  • DOI:10.1075/nowele.00088.dre
  • Accession Number:181468777
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of NOWELE: North-Western European Language Evolution is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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