ON LENGTHENING IN THE OPEN SYLLABLES OF MIDDLE-ENGLISH

This paper identifies and provides proper answers to problems in the interpretation of MEOSL as a lengthening process. The paper defines MEOSL as a context-sensitive change that operated only in cases when the unaccented second vowel is weakened to schwa in the open syllable environment of disyllabic words. Some dialectal and interlanguage data are incorporated in order to explain apparent exceptions to the change. In sum, the paper argues that the theory developed in this study has advantages for explaining the details of MEOSL confirmed by historically attested facts like dating and spellings.