Article published in:
Romance Linguistics 2012: Selected papers from the 42nd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Cedar City, Utah, 20-22 April 2012
Edited by Jason Smith and Tabea Ihsane
[Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 7] 2015
► pp. 133–144

The adaptation of /h/ in Old French loanwords

A tale of love and ‘ate

Contact between Old French and three /h/-bearing varieties of Germanic (i.e. Frankish, Old East Scandinavian, Middle Dutch) transpired in present-day Normandy and Belgium from the early 8th to the late 14th century. During this period, an influx of Germanic loanwords entered Old French, restoring phonemic /h/. In this study, we assemble an exhaustive dataset of Old East Scandinavian and Middle Dutch loans containing /h/, track the different adaptation strategies into Old French and examine them in terms of current models of loanword phonology.
Published online: 28 August 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.7.09dal
References
Ayres-Bennett, Wendy
1995 A History of the French Language through Texts. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bandle, Oskar
ed. 2002 The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages 1. New York: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Broselow, Ellen
2005 “Stress adaptation in loanword phonology: Perception and learnability”. Phonology and Perception ed. by Paul Boersma & Silke Hamann. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Chang, Charles B.
2008 “Phonetics vs. phonology in loanword adaptation: Revisiting the role of the bilingual”. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistic Society: General Session and Parasession on Information Structure , Berkeley, CA.
Davidson, Lisa & Rolf Noyer
1997 “Loan phonology in Huave: Nativization and the ranking of faithfulness constraints”. WCCFL 15 ed. by Brian Agbayani & Sze-Wing Tang, 65–80. Center for the Study of Language and Information Publications, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
De Gorog, Ralph Paul
1958 The Scandinavian Element in French and Norman. New York: Bookman.Google Scholar
Haugen, Einar
1982 Scandinavian Language Structures. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Kang, Yoonjung
2003 “Perceptual similarity in loanword adaptation: Adaptation of English post-vocalic word-final stops in Korean”. Phonology 20.219–273. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael
2007 “Salience and similarity in loanword adaptation: A case study from Fijian”. Language Sciences 29.316–340. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Le Fèvre, Arnaud
2001 Mots de vieux norrois dans la langue normande. Available at http://​www​.viking​.no​/f​/france​/norman​_on​_words​.htm.Google Scholar
Lepelley, René
1993 Dictionnaire du français régional de Normandie. Paris: Editions Bonneton.Google Scholar
Mielke, Jeff
2003 “The Diachronic Influence of Perception: Experimental Evidence from Turkish”. Proceedings of the 29 th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Berkeley, CA.
Paradis, Carole & Darlene La Charité
2008 “Apparent phonetic approximation: English loanwords in Old Quebec French”. Journal of Linguistics 44.87–128. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Peperkamp, Sharon & Emmanuel Dupoux
2003 “Reinterpreting Loanword Adaptations: The role of perception”. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of Phonetic Sciences , 367–370. Barcelona: Casual Productions.
Pope, Mildred Katherine
1934 From Latin to Modern French with especial consideration of Anglo-Norman. Manchester: University of Manchester Press.Google Scholar
Ridel, Elisabeth
2009 Les vikings et les mots. Paris: Editions érrance.Google Scholar
Shepherd, William
1911 Historical Atlas. New York: Henry Holt and Company.Google Scholar
Silverman, Daniel
1992 “Multiple Scansions in Loanword Phonology: Evidence from Cantonese”. Phonology 9.289–328. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2003 “On the rarity of pre-aspirated stops”. Journal of Linguistics 39.575–598. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Steriade, Donca
2001 “The phonology of perceptibility effects: The P-map and its consequences for constraint organization”. Unpublished ms., MIT.
Treps, Marie
2003 Les mots voyageurs: petite histoire du français venu d’ailleurs. Paris: Editions du Seuil.Google Scholar
Valkhoff, Marius
1931 Etude sur les mots français d’origine néerlandaise. Amersfoort: Valkhoff & Co.Google Scholar
van Coetsem, Frans
1990 Review of Language Contact, creolization and genetic linguistics, Sarah Grey Thomason & Terrence Kaufman. Language and Society 19.260–268. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
van den Toorrn, M.C., W. Pijnenburg, J.A. van Leuvensteijn & J.M. van der Horst
1997 Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse taal. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Walter, Henriette
1997 L’aventure des mots français venus d’ailleurs. Paris: Robert Laffont.Google Scholar
Yip, Moira
1993 “Cantonese Loanword Phonology and Optimality Theory”. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 2.261–291. CrossrefGoogle Scholar

Primary and secondary OES and MD Sources

Barbier, Paul
1927 “Miscellanea lexicographica, Etymological and Lexicographical Notes on the French Language and on the Romance Dialects of France”. Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society , Leeds.
Berneville, Guillaume de
1881 La Vie de Saint Gilles ed. by G. Paris & Alphonse Bos. Paris.Google Scholar
des Gautries, Jean
1953 “Les noms en –torp.” Etudes germaniques III, 1–5.Google Scholar
Gamillscheg, Ernst
1926 Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Französichen Sprache. Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Gilliéron, Jules & Edmond Edmont
1902–1920 Atlas linguistique de la France and Supplément I. Paris : Champion.Google Scholar
Godefroy, Frédéric
1902 Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue français. Paris: P.U.F.Google Scholar
Hatzfeld, Adolpe, Arsene Darmesteter & M. Antoine Thomas
n.d. Dictionnaire général de la langue française, I, II. Paris.
Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm
1935 Romanisches Etmyologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd edition. Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Sainte-Maure, Benoît de
1844 La Chronique des Ducs de Normandie ed. by F. Michael. Paris.Google Scholar
Schiller, Karl & August Lübben
1881 Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch. Bremen: Hinricus Fischer.Google Scholar
Trésor de la langue française (= TLF)
ed. by Paul Imbs (vol. I à VII). Paris: CNRS–Gallimard 1971–4.Google Scholar
Von Wartburg, Walther
1928 Französiches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bonn.Google Scholar
Wace, Robert
1940 Le Roman de Brut ed. by Ivor Arnold. Paris : Société des Anciens Textes Français.Google Scholar
2002 Le Roman de Rou, ed. by Anthony J. Holden. Paris: Picard.Google Scholar