古英語で sc で表わされる音は典型的には /ʃ/ とされる．前段階の /sk/ が口蓋化 (palatalisation) と歯擦音化を起こしたものと説明されるのが一般的である．しかし，単語によってはこの音変化を経ず，/sk/ にとどまっているものもあれば，両音のあいだで揺れを示すものもある．/sk/ にとどまったものは，音位転換 (metathesis) により /ks/ を示すものもあり，単語によっては複雑な異形態を示すことになる．これらの問題について，以下の記事を中心に議論してきた．

　・ 「#60. 音位転換 ( metathesis )」 ([2009-06-27-1])
　・ 「#1511. 古英語期の sc の口蓋化・歯擦化」 ([2013-06-16-1])
　・ 「#5626. 古英語の sc の口蓋化・歯擦化 (2)」 ([2024-09-21-1])

　今回は，この問題について Lass (58--59) の知見を新たに加えてみたい．

   A different sort of palatalization contributes further to the new series: a change of */sk/ > /ʃ/. The mechanics are not clear, but one reasonable suggestion would be something like [sk] > [sc] > [sç], with a later 'compromise' articulation /ʃ/ emerging from the back-to-back alveolar and palatal. Or, the [k] may have weakened first to [x], as in modern Dutch, without palatalizing; in this case we could see at least three of the stages mirrored in modern Germanic, in the verbs meaning 'to write': Swedish skriva /skri:va/ representing the original, Dutch schrijven /sxrɛivə(n)/ a further development, and German schreiben /ʃraebən/ the final stage (cf. English shrive).
   The reason for this palatalization is obscure; it occurs in both front and back environments, and before consonants, so it is not obviously assimilatory like the ones discussed above. The OE spelling <sh> for instance appears to represent /ʃ/ not only in scīnan 'shine' (cf. OIc skína), sc(i)eran 'shear' (OIc skera), but also in scofl 'shovel' (OSw skofl), scanca 'shank' (Dutch skank), scūr 'shower' (Go skūra).
   There is however occasional failure in back environments, as shown by the spelling <x> = /ks/, which is due to metathesis (/sk/ > /ks/), in places where <sc> would be expected. This must have occurred while the cluster was still /sk/. Palatalized and nonpalatalized variants of one lexeme may even occur in the same text: the poem Andreas has for 'fish' (Go fisks) both gen sg fisces and dat pl fixum. Failures of palatalization (or dialectal variants: see below) also lead to doublets in later periods, even including ModE: hence ask (OE āscian, ācsian), now frequently with the nonstandard doublet ax (which was the norm in many pre-modern standard varieties). Another example is tusk (OE tūsc, pl tūscas, tūcas), where the nonpalatalized form has come down in most standard varieties, but there are so many dialects with tush.

　音位転換形という間接的証拠により，口蓋化が起こっていない形態があることを推定できるというのがおもしろい．異形態 (variants) は，多くの文献学的問題について貴重な資料である．

　・ Lass, Roger. Old English: A Historical Linguistic Companion. Cambridge: CUP, 1994.

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