A Study Of The Unaccented Vowels Of Proto Norse

The Unaccented Vowels of Proto-Norse

The Unaccented Vowels of Proto-Norse attempts to analyse the unaccented vowel system attested in the proto-Norse period, as partially attested in the older runic inscriptions in the elder futhark. Each chapter in turn assesses the evidence for unaccented syllables of a particular category, whether inflectional or derivational, and decides whether any reliable conclusions can be drawn from it. It is argued that too many widely accepted views are based on insufficient and poor methodology, and that too little note has been taken of the fact that viable alternatives exist alongside most of our theories about proto-Norse. In particular, a new realisation that the inscriptions are written in a less than perfect orthographic system, a notion that many scholars have often been unwilling to accept, leads to some interesting new interpretations of the data.

A Study of the Unaccented Vowels of Proto-Norse

Runes and Germanic Linguistics

The older runic inscriptions (ca. AD 150 - 450) represent the earliest attestation of any Germanic language. The close relationship of these inscriptions to the archaic Mediterranean writing traditions is demonstrated through the linguistic and orthographic analysis presented here. The extraordinary importance of these inscriptions for a proper understanding of the prehistory and early history of the present-day Germanic languages, including English, becomes abundantly clear once the accu-mulation of unfounded claims of older mythological and cultic studies is cleared away.