Lexical accent as a result of differing patterns in Germanic

The disparity in noun/verb stress patterns of the donor languages from the existing native patterns (or lack thereof) was a crucial factor in the assignment of Accent 1 to the prefixed verbs, and Accent 2 to the prefixed nouns. We once again first consider the similarities, i.e., Germanic nouns with stressed prefixes in section 2.3.1, and then proceed to examine the verbs with stressed prefixes in section 2.3.2, presenting our final analysis in section 3.

76. This, however, does not apply to all words with stressed prefixes and nominalizing suffixes as we saw in 'påkjørsel2 ‘crash’, which is not derived from a verb (cf. Chapter 3, section 3.2.4).

2.3.1. Prefixed nouns

Prefixed nouns in Germanic have a very constant stress pattern. The prefix always bears main stress. Contrary to words with unstressed prefixes, nouns with stressed prefixes fit into the regular Germanic compound stress pattern for constructs consisting of two prosodic words (cf.

Booij 2002:116f, Wiese 1996:294). As we just saw in section 1.2, the regular compound accent rule assigns Accent 2 to two prosodic words with initial stress in both Standard East Norwegian and Central Swedish (cf. (10), (11)). In Standard East Norwegian, however lexical accent will intervene when it is present.

The fact that Scandinavian seems to have gone through a period, where all prefixed words were stressed on the prefix, and the majority of these were nouns, must have influenced the incorporation of nouns with stressed prefixes. These loanwords had a native Scandinavian pattern to follow, and the stress pattern did not alienate the Scandinavian language speaker, because the pattern of the source language did not differ from the native pattern. These prefixed nouns had main stress on the prefixes, which were inseparable from the base in both source and borrowing languages. It was a perfect match. Therefore, borrowed prefixed nouns like 'ankomst2 ‘arrival’ (MLG 'ankumpst, Low German 'ankumst, Dutch 'aankomst), patterned no differently from inherited 'avund2 ‘envy’, and received compound stress following the pattern of the inherited stressed prefixed nouns.⁷⁷ Table (18) gives the stress patterns of prefixed nouns in the modern descendants of the main donor languages, i.e., MLG and High German.

(18) Stressed prefixes/particles in Germanic: Nouns

Prefix Accent

77. MLG is closely related to Middle Dutch, both of which stem from Old Saxon. Due to the diversity of the Low German dialects and a lack of a standard form, we chose the more accessible relative Dutch as a representative for MLG. It is not directly a descendant of MLG but it fulfils a very important requirement: it has dictionaries that indicate stress location as opposed to Low German.

As can be seen in (18), the same Germanic pattern still exists in modern Central Swedish and Standard East Norwegian. Nouns with stressed prefixes are inseparable, main stress is on the prefix, and these words coincide in accent in both Swedish and Norwegian.

2.3.2. Verbs with stressed prefixes

There is not nearly as much congruency to be found in the patterns of verbs with stressed prefixes in the source and borrowing languages, as we can see in (19).

(19) Stressed prefixes/particles in Germanic: Verbs

Prefix Accent

separable inseparable

Main stress

Secondary

stress 1 2

X X

High German

X X

X X X

Dutch

X

Central Swedish X X X

East Norwegian X X X

In High German and Dutch, there are two existing patterns for verbs with stressed prefixes.

In one set, prefixes bear main stress and are separable from their base. In the other, prefixes bear secondary stress, while main stress is on the base, which cannot be separated from its prefix. In both Central Swedish and Standard East Norwegian, however, prefixed verbs are never separable, and prefixes either bear main stress, or no stress at all. That is, there are no similar prefixes that bear secondary stress, and none that can be separated from their base.

However, as we know, Central Swedish and Standard East Norwegian differ in the accent of these prefixed forms: most verbs with stressed prefixes have Accent 2 in Central Swedish, and Accent 1 in Standard East Norwegian. Below we give examples of verbs with stressed prefixes in all four languages.

(20) Examples of stressed prefixes/particles in Germanic: Verbs⁷⁸ pattern in Scandinavian. The same prefix could differ according to stress placement, as in High German {um-}, e.g. 'umkommen ‘to perish’, um'geben ‘to surround’. It can even differ with one and the same base, e.g. 'umfahren ‘to run over’, um'fahren ‘to circumscribe’. These patterns must have been immensely estranging, or at least seem quite peculiar to the speakers of Scandinavian at that time. Unlike the corresponding patterns found amongst Germanic prefixed nouns, the patterns of the prefixed verbs differed considerably, which we summarise in the following section.

2.3.3. Compilation of Germanic prefix patterns

Dutch and High German have a total of three patterns for verbs with prefixes: two for prefixes that bear some degree of stress, as we saw in (18), and one for unstressed prefixes. Unstressed prefixes are inseparable from their base in both Dutch and High German. Present-day Swedish and Norwegian only have two sets of prefixed verbs, one with unstressed prefixes, and one with stressed prefixes. Not to forget that Standard East Norwegian has an additional tonal differentiation distinguishing stressed prefixes and stressed particles – as we see below in (21).

The table in (21) illustrates all the differing patterns for prefixed verbs today.

78. Glosses: German: 'anmelden ‘announce’, 'umkommen ‘to perish’, um'geben ‘to surround’; Dutch:

'aanmelden ‘announce’, om'komen ‘to perish’, om'geven ‘to surround’; Swedish: 'omkomma2 ‘to perish’, 'omge2/'omgiva2 ‘to surround’, 'anmäla2 ‘to announce’; Norwegian: 'anmelde1 ‘to review/report’, 'omkomme1 ‘to perish’, 'omgi1 ‘to surround’.

(21) Prefixed verbs in Germanic

Prefix Accent

separable inseparable

Main stress

Secondary stress

No stress

1 2

X X

X X

High German

X X

X X

X X

Dutch

X X

X X X

Swedish

X X X

Norwegian X X X

(particle verbs) X X X

(stressed prefix) X X X

The second row for Standard East Norwegian depicts the pattern for particle verbs, and the last row shows the pattern for stressed native prefixes (cf. (15)). These two forms only differ in accent. All in all, we can see here that High German and Dutch have three varying patterns that do not exist in Scandinavian. Loan verbs with stressed prefixes did not fit into the category of compounds like the nouns, since they were not clearly stressed on the initial syllable, and if they were, then they were separable from the root in the donor language. Likewise, as we sketched in section 2.2.1, there was no existing pattern for the verbs with unstressed prefixes – even though they were inseparable. Proto-Norse syncope had nicely taken care of that.