A Note on Old Norwegian Vowel Harmony

Abstract

In some dialects of Old Norwegian unstressed non-low vowels have a distribution which has traditionally been defined as vowel harmony. However, such vowels after low stressed vowels have a distributional pattern which cannot be fully accounted for in terms of vowel harmony. On the basis of data from one vowel harmony dialect of Old Norwegian (Trøndelag) the present note suggests that the distribution of unstressed non-low vowels should be regarded as the result of four separate processes rather than one, including both vowel harmony and vowel reduction.