hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2013-08-19

■ #1575. -st の語尾音添加に関する Dobson の考察 [phonetics][euphony]

　昨日の記事「#1574. amongst の -st 語尾」 ([2013-08-18-1]) ほか，##508,509,510,739,1389,1393,1394,1399,1554,1555,1573 の記事で，-st の語尾音添加 (paragoge) について扱ってきた．この問題について Dobson (§437, pp. 1003--04) が，'excrescent' [t] として1ページほどを割いて議論している．かなり長いが，自らの参照の便のために引用する．

　Excrescent [t] in against, amidst, amongst, betwixt, whilst, &c. is explained by OED as due to the analogy of the superlative ending -est, and by Jordan, §199, as developing in phrasal groups when the prepositions were followed by te 'the'. But in view of the cases discussed in the preceding paragraph and in Note 1 and of the occurrence in modern dialects of [t] after [s] in words which do not have OE adverbial -es (see Note 3 below), we may explain [t] as developed by a phonetic process; at the end of the articulation of [s] the tip of the tongue is raised slightly so as to close the narrow passage left for [s], and the stop [t] is thus produced. But as this [t] is recorded earlier and more often, and in StE is confined to, prepositions and conjunctions, it is clear that a special factor is also operating, and that suggested by Jordan is altogether more likely than OED's (for there seems no good reason why the superlative should exercise the influence alleged); [þ] becomes [t] after spirants, including [s] (see Jordan, §205), and the tendency to develop excrescent [t] after [s] would therefore, in prepositions and conjunctions, be strongly aided by the fact that they were so commonly followed by the definite article in the form te. The development is shown sporadically from OE onwards in betwixt and in ME in against and whilst (see OED and Jordan, §199), but is not commonly recorded until the fifteenth century; but as it presupposes final [s] it must either antedate the change of unstressed -es to [əz], which is to be dated to the fourteenth century (see §363 above), or operate solely on forms with early syncope, and the paucity of evidence before 1400 must therefore be largely accidental.
　The prepositions regularly have [t] in the orthoepists: so against in Hart, Bullokar, Robinson, Gil, Hodges, and Wallis, amidst in Robinson, amongst in Hart, Robinson, Gil, and Hodges, and (be)twixt in Hart, Bullokar, Robinson, and Hodges. The conjunction whilst, however, which would be less commonly followed by the definite article, occurs as [hwɪls] (showing early syncope) in Smith and as [hwəilz] in Hart (beside -st) and Gil (transcribing Spenser); but it has [st] in, for example, Hart, Bullokar, and Robinson. Bullokar also records excrescent [t] in unless (twice); in this case the occasional acceptance in the sixteenth century of the form with [t] is probably due to confusion with the superlative least, since unless is derived from the comparative less (see OED, s.vv. unleast, unless, and unlest).

　Dobson は，t の添加は基本的に音韻過程だったとしながらも，後に定冠詞の前位置での音便も "special factor" として作用したと考えている．また，1400年以前の t の添加の例が少ないが，これはおそらく "accidental" であり，実際には早くから添加した形態が行なわれていただろうと推測している．
　近代の方言に目を映すと，Wright (§295) によれば，[n] の後での [t] の挿入は sermon, sudden, vermin に見られ ，[s] の後でも once, twice, ice, nice, hoarse に見られるというから，散発的ながらも意外と多くの語で t の語尾音添加が起こっているようだ．

　・ Dobson, E. J. English Pronunciation 1500--1700. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Oxford: OUP, 1968.
　・ Wright, Joseph. The English Dialect Grammar. Oxford: OUP, 1905. Repr. 1968.

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