Stephen Laker
Biographic Data
| ID | 8839300 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephen Laker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephen |
| FAMILY NAME | Laker |
| SIGNATURE | LAKER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Kyushu University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3615-2183 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
‘To know’, ‘to teach’, and ‘to learn’ in Germanic
Three Germanic verbs with the meanings ‘to know’, ‘to teach’, and ‘to learn’ can all be traced back to the same PIE root * lei̯s - ‘to follow a track’. While evidence for all three verbs is recoverable from Gothic, only two verbal derivates passed down into the West Germanic languages, and none survived into North Germanic (although there was later reborrowing from Old English). This article charts these developments as well as subsequent ones, i…
James Platt Junior's Contributions to Old English Grammar 1
In 1883, Henry Sweet took issue with James Platt junior, a 21‐year‐old language enthusiast. At the time, Platt was England's brightest young prospect in Old English linguistic studies. Sweet recognised Platt's talent, but he became convinced that he was also a plagiarist and tried to have him expelled from the Philological Society. Yet Sweet blew out of all proportion mistakes that were largely the result of Platt's lack of experience. In fact, P…
Labial Fricatives in the History of Frisian
The article has two aims: (1) to survey the main developments of labial fricatives in the history of Frisian; (2) to explain the varied developments of the voiced labial fricative more effectively based on the evidence Old Frisian spellings and reflexes in Modern Frisian dialects. As to the latter aim, it is argued that the currently accepted structural phonological explanation for the emergence of a systematic voicing alternation /f ~ v/ in earl…
Frisians of the Early Middle Ages
The volume stems from a symposium on the Frisians in the Early Middle Ages that was held in Leeuwaren, Province of Friesland, the Netherlands, in September 2018. An introductory chapter provides the backstory to the symposium. From the beginning, it was planned as an addition to the Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology symposium and book series that was founded by the late Professor Giorgio Ausenda. Past meetings have brought together invited s…
Palatalization and assibilation of /k/ in English and Scottish place-names
There are very few place-names with initial Ch- [tʃ-] in Scotland, Northern England and much of the East Midlands. Names that do exist are almost exclusively late formations and usually consist of French rather than Old English place-name elements. This article investigates the reasons why assibilation is either present or absent from specific areas and why. The results lead to a reassessment of several points, including: (1) the phonetic and pho…
Celtic influence on Old English vowels
Debate continues over what was spoken in Britain before, during and after it was settled by the Anglo-Saxons in the middle of the first millennium ad . Schrijver (2009) argues that phonological and phonetic developments in Old English provide vital clues. Accordingly, Old English changed in different ways from other Germanic languages due to contact with an early British Celtic variety that resembled Old Irish. Aspects of this proposal have been …
The Downfall of Dental Fricatives
Directions for Old Frisian Philology
Languages of early Britain
An explanation for the early phonemicisation of a voice contrast in English fricatives
Most handbooks and grammars contend that in Old English the voiced fricatives [v, ð, z] were merely allophones of /f, θ, s/ in sonorous environments. How these voiced fricatives became phonemes is debated among scholars. In this article, all previous accounts are critically reviewed. A new proposal is then presented, which explains the facts in a more direct way than previous theses. I argue that phonemicisation of a previous allophonic voice alt…
Palatalization of Velars
Advances in Old Frisian Philology
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in the Humanities, Social Sciences, International Law, and Biology. With offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the USA and Asia, Brill today publishes more than 360 journals and 2,000 new books and reference works each year as well as a large number of databases and primary source research collections.
No prominent works on this page.
Palatalization of Velars
Advances in Old Frisian Philology
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in the Humanities, Social Sciences, International Law, and Biology. With offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the USA and Asia, Brill today publishes more than 360 journals and 2,000 new books and reference works each year as well as a large number of databases and primary source research collections.
An explanation for the early phonemicisation of a voice contrast in English fricatives
Most handbooks and grammars contend that in Old English the voiced fricatives [v, ð, z] were merely allophones of /f, θ, s/ in sonorous environments. How these voiced fricatives became phonemes is debated among scholars. In this article, all previous accounts are critically reviewed. A new proposal is then presented, which explains the facts in a more direct way than previous theses. I argue that phonemicisation of a previous allophonic voice alt…
Languages of early Britain
The Downfall of Dental Fricatives
Directions for Old Frisian Philology
Celtic influence on Old English vowels
Debate continues over what was spoken in Britain before, during and after it was settled by the Anglo-Saxons in the middle of the first millennium ad . Schrijver (2009) argues that phonological and phonetic developments in Old English provide vital clues. Accordingly, Old English changed in different ways from other Germanic languages due to contact with an early British Celtic variety that resembled Old Irish. Aspects of this proposal have been …
Palatalization and assibilation of /k/ in English and Scottish place-names
There are very few place-names with initial Ch- [tʃ-] in Scotland, Northern England and much of the East Midlands. Names that do exist are almost exclusively late formations and usually consist of French rather than Old English place-name elements. This article investigates the reasons why assibilation is either present or absent from specific areas and why. The results lead to a reassessment of several points, including: (1) the phonetic and pho…
Frisians of the Early Middle Ages
The volume stems from a symposium on the Frisians in the Early Middle Ages that was held in Leeuwaren, Province of Friesland, the Netherlands, in September 2018. An introductory chapter provides the backstory to the symposium. From the beginning, it was planned as an addition to the Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology symposium and book series that was founded by the late Professor Giorgio Ausenda. Past meetings have brought together invited s…
Labial Fricatives in the History of Frisian
The article has two aims: (1) to survey the main developments of labial fricatives in the history of Frisian; (2) to explain the varied developments of the voiced labial fricative more effectively based on the evidence Old Frisian spellings and reflexes in Modern Frisian dialects. As to the latter aim, it is argued that the currently accepted structural phonological explanation for the emergence of a systematic voicing alternation /f ~ v/ in earl…
‘To know’, ‘to teach’, and ‘to learn’ in Germanic
Three Germanic verbs with the meanings ‘to know’, ‘to teach’, and ‘to learn’ can all be traced back to the same PIE root * lei̯s - ‘to follow a track’. While evidence for all three verbs is recoverable from Gothic, only two verbal derivates passed down into the West Germanic languages, and none survived into North Germanic (although there was later reborrowing from Old English). This article charts these developments as well as subsequent ones, i…
James Platt Junior's Contributions to Old English Grammar 1
In 1883, Henry Sweet took issue with James Platt junior, a 21‐year‐old language enthusiast. At the time, Platt was England's brightest young prospect in Old English linguistic studies. Sweet recognised Platt's talent, but he became convinced that he was also a plagiarist and tried to have him expelled from the Philological Society. Yet Sweet blew out of all proportion mistakes that were largely the result of Platt's lack of experience. In fact, P…
Linguistics and language evolution (11 works) · History (10 works) · Linguistics (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (5 works) · Classics (4 works) · Lexicography and Language Studies (4 works) · Old English (4 works) · Philology (4 works)