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COPYRIGHT 1996 University of Illinois Press
(NOWELE: Supplement Volumes, 11.) By Martin Syrett. Odense: University Press, 1994. Pp. 323. Dkr. 300.
This reworked dissertation presents a wide-ranging review of what the title says, but not in a form for beginners--nor even for the more advanced but faint-hearted. Syrett presents his version of the Stand der Forschung in major sections: 1) "Questions of method and the nature of the evidence," 2) "The reconstruction of proto-Norse," 3) "Nominal short stem vowels in final syllables," 4) "Nominal stem vowels in composition syllables, 5) "Nominal long stem vowels in final syllables, 6) "Problems with length," 7) "Formational suffixes" (including the la-, ga-, du-, sa-, ja-, na-, nga-, ka-, star, and the weak preterite id-suffixes along with N-stem and R-stem nouns, the verbal infinitive, and the verbal present participle), 8) "The finite verbal endings," and 9) "Summary." At the end are Abbreviations and Bibliography.
The treatment is not bound to any particular former or current method of linguistic analysis. As Syrett puts it, "Whilst it seems useful in a study of the relationship between individual vocalic segments to adopt many of the methods of phoneme and distinctive feature theory, it strikes me that it is more necessary yet to have a clear mental conception of the structure...
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