Renata Szczepaniak: Vokalharmonie im Althochdeutschen und im Walserdeutschen

Ein Fall von phonologisch-typologischer Kontinuität

Processes of vowel assimilation can be observed in Old High German and in the Walser German of Issime (töitschu) in the German-speaking enclave north of Ivrea in Piedmont. We can regard the vowel harmony of Walser German (fümmela > fümmala ‘Frau’; süjenwirdschu > süjuwurudschu ‘suchen wir sie’) as a direct continuation and elaboration of a type of vowel assimilation already known from Old High German (wolkan ‘Wolke’ vs. wolkono [genitive plural]). The Old High German vowel assimilation is confined to the vowel in direct proximity, but in the Walser German of Issime several vowels may be subject to alteration. A further argument for the direct continuity of vowel harmony in Walser German is provided by the phonological typology operating on the level of words and syllables. Old High German shares a number of syllabic features with the Walser German of Issime and the vowel assimilation investigated in the present article is one of these.

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