Middle Dutch Sentence and Word Phonology

Our knowledge of the linguistic systems of early Germanic come from manuscripts. In this project, we plan to examine two separate Middle Dutch manuscripts, dated about 25 years apart. The first manuscript, Marshall-29 is held at the Bodleian Library and is one of the most complete surviving Middle Dutch manuscripts (dialect of Brabant), comprising 102 folios. Written in a single hand around 1375 it contains absorbing details about word and sentence phonology. Since the manuscript is complete and has not been made accessible by a reliable edition so far, it provides new material for the study of Middle Dutch phonology. The second manuscript we are interested in is the Comburg manuscript, dated between 1380-1425 written in Flemish and fairly close to Marshall-29. Since the dialects are different, varying changes in different social contact situations will be of special interest.

Our central goals are to:
A. Trace the sentence and word phonological system for a period of 600 years, from Middle to
Modern Dutch, based on our transcription of little-known medieval manuscripts.
B. Establish the conditions under which phonological and syntactic structure differ.
C. Trace the time-course of dialectal variation from manuscripts which are closely related but
geographically apart.

More specifically we plan to achieve the following:
i) On the basis of the transcription, we will provide a comprehensive synchronic analysis of 15th-century Middle Dutch sentence phonology ( including cliticisation, prosodic word formation and and prosodic phrasing) and trace the development to Modern Dutch, touching on 14th and 17th century systems based on other manuscripts.
ii) Analyse the segmental phonology of Middle Dutch and trace its development to Modern Dutch, with emphasis on both qualitative and quantitative aspects. We analyse across-word as well as within-word phonological alternations.
iii) Produce a transcription of the complete text of Marshall-29 that will be made accessible by e-publication. Since Marshall 29 is one of the few complete manuscripts of Middle Dutch non-religious texts and has yet been little studied, e-publication will enhance the options for linguistic as well as literary research of this period. This will be an invaluable addition to Middle Dutch philology.

We believe that our work will be vital for scholars working on the syntax-phonology interface, historical linguistics, and dialectologists. Within a broader perspective, the results will be added to the Dutch dialect atlas, providing invaluable data concerning sentence-phonology of medieval dialects and tracing the development to modern times. The transcription and critical edition will be of interest to scholars in Dutch poetry and literature, as well as provide information on medieval Dutch culture.

I. WHO will benefit?
a) General linguists, particularly phonologists and syntacticans, historical linguists, scholars of Germanic;
b) Dialectologists
c) Scholars of Dutch history, culture, literature, and poetry;

II. HOW will they benefit? WHAT sort of impact will it have?

a) Linguists: Our results will be of great immense interest to linguists working on syntax-phonology interface and on language change.
Syntax-Phonology interface: Our work will affect theories of syntax-phonology mapping and add evidence to the controversies surrounding this research. We hope to establish that mismatch in phonological phrasing and syntactic grouping is dependent on prosodic principles like 'trochaic grouping' (build a strong+weak structure) rather than base the mapping largely on syntactic phrasing with minimal differences.
Historical Linguistics: Since sentence phonological research is rare based on medieval manuscripts, tracing the sentence phonology from early to modern times is also rare. Our research will considerably add to our knowledge in this area.

b) Dialectologists: Given that the two manuscripts are written in different dialects, the analyses and the data will be of vital significance to dialect researchers. The data will add to the sentence phonology of dialect atlases of the medieval period, a sad lacunae at the moment.

c) Other scholars: The manuscripts hold considerable interest for the non-linguists since they refer to the lives of ordinary Dutch people during the 14th century, with a philosophical and moral tone. The texts are secular and not religious and will be of value to scholars of Dutch history, culture and literature, and poetry.

C) HOW will the potential benefit/knowledge be made known?
A webpage about the project will provide general background information about the project and the manuscripts and crucially links to published papers and to the text edition.

a) For linguistics audience, the most important way in which we can ensure that the research has the expected impact, we plan to give papers at conferences where specialised international audience is present and publish in top peer reviewed journals.
The annual meetings of the Linguistics Society of America and the Linguistic Society of Great Britain will reach theoretical phonologists as well as historical linguistics. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS) and Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference (GLAC) will allow international scholars interested in historical Germanic linguistics to listen to our work, and the Manchester Phonology Meeting attracts top phonologists.
We plan to publish in the (i) Journal of Germanic Linguistics for Germanic specialists, (ii) in the Journal of Linguistics for those working in the syntax-phonology interface and (iii) in Diachronica for historical linguists.
To ensure that our research is presented to topmost researchers in the field on whom our theoretical findings will have the greatest impact, we plan a small intensive WORKSHOP with six invited scholars. This way we can put forth our ideas in detail and also get feed back very directly.

(b) Dialectologists: The best way we feel to inform the dialect researchers is to present at the Meertens Institute of Dialectology, the main institute for Dutch Dialectology and in charge of modern linguistic atlases of Dutch dialects. This way we hope to ensure that our data is added to the relevant atlases.

(c) General audience - various methods are planned to ensure that our results and efforts are made public. Our edited version of ms. Marshall 29 will make it easier for Dutch readers to access the stories of their ancestors and for literary scholars to translate texts for use in secondary schools. In at least one newspaper article, we will highlight how communication between 14th century Dutch and British me