Ebook: Proto-Germanic */x/ and Gothic breaking

Göppingen: Kümmerle Verlag, 1988. — 27–58 c. (ed.) Francis G. Gentry: "Semper idem et novus: Festschrift for Frank Banta". This paper addresses the problem of the mutating effect exerted on the preceding vowels by reflexes of Proto-Germanic */x/. Although the phonetic nature of */x/ is difficult to determine, it is possible to arrive at some conclusions regarding its phonetic development through balanced consideration of internal and comparative evidence and by applying data gleaned from experimental phonetics. The proper interpretation of the development of */x/ will result not only in a more accurate evaluation of consonantally conditioned vocalic mutations in Germanic where reflexes of */x/ are among the conditioning factors, but will also provide interesting footnotes to discussions of controversial issues in the development of the consonantal systems in the Germanic daughter languages.