Jean de Joinville and the Old French rhotic consonant
Peter Chekin
Abstract Based on textual evidence from Jean de Joinville’s Vie saint Louis , this article argues that the Old French rhotic consonant /r/ had a dorsal pronunciation for at least some groups of medieval Francophones. This argument counters prevailing view was uniformly apical, and now-standard only emerged in early modern period. The then develops hypothesis came into as result Germanic influence, not spontaneous development. For purpose, it first surveys current state debate about origins languages evaluates merits its principal arguments light testimony. advances sociolinguistic favor Germanic-origins hypothesis. Using available interactions between Germanic- Romance-speakers dawn written language, proposes Carolingian-era nobles who were native speakers Franconian dialects brought French, sound subsequently persisted aristocratic speech part prestige accent.
Zeitschrift Fur Romanische Philologie