caa a22 4500 388043040 CHVBK 20180307125028.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199811 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S1360674300000848 doi S1360674300000848 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S1360674300000848 Bermúdez-Otero Ricardo University of Manchester and Universidad de Santiago de Compostela Prosodic optimization: the Middle English length adjustment [Elektronische Daten] [Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero] During late Old and Middle English, the distribution of short and long vowels in stressed syllables was profoundly altered. The changes involved have traditionally been understood as conspiring to optimize syllable quantity according to the position of the syllable in the word. However, Minkova's reformulation of so-called Middle English Open Syllable Lengthening (MEOSL) as a purely compensatory process appears difficult to reconcile with the traditional approach, which has recently been further compromised by suggestions that Trisyllabic Shortening was not a genuine historical sound change. In this article, Minkova's analysis is supported with new evidence of phonological conditioning behind the irregular lengthening of unapocopated disyllabic stems (e.g. raven vs heaven, body, gannet). I propose solutions to Riad's ‘data problem' and ‘analytical problem'. Optimality Theory allows Minkova's revised statement of MEOSL to be integrated into a broader, non-teleological account of late Old and Middle English quantitative developments, including coverage of processes of lexical change such as borrowing and diffusion. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998 English Language and Linguistics Cambridge University Press 2/2(1998-11), 169-197 1360-6743 2:2<169 1998 2 ELL https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674300000848 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674300000848 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Bermúdez-Otero Ricardo University of Manchester and Universidad de Santiago de Compostela NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- English Language and Linguistics Cambridge University Press 2/2(1998-11), 169-197 1360-6743 2:2<169 1998 2 ELL CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge