Implications of Old English syllable structure and consonant phonotactics for phonological theory

This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of Old English syllabification and consonantal phonotactics, with special emphasis on syllable-edge consonants that create sonority reversal or plateaus from a new perspective. I argue that the consonants frequently assumed to be "extrasyllabic" should be fully syllabified on the surface without any derivational stage. A new variant model of syllable structure and new constraints of phonological integrity along with other existing constraints are proposed to support this argument.; Chapter 1 outlines the orthography and pronunciation as well as the phonemic inventory of OE. Chapter 2 reviews some of the literature on the syllable and proposes a new variant of syllable structure to use for OE. Chapter 3 is devoted to the segmental phonology of OE. Chapter 4 provides an OT analysis of OE syllabification and consonantal phonotactics.; I argue that syllable-edge consonants that create sonority reversal or plateaus should be linked to a higher node in order to preserve the integrity of the syllable or the rhyme as a phonological unit. But the integrity of the onset, coda or rhyme may be violated to prevent violation of the higher-ranked Sonority Sequencing Principle. The integrity constraints for onsets and codas state that all consonants are preferentially linked either to the onset or to the coda. Failing that, an initial consonant will be linked to the syllable node while a final consonant will be linked to the rhyme node, or failing that, the final consonant may be linked to the syllable node. Only one consonant can be attached to each of the rhyme or the syllable node so there can be two extra segments at the end of the syllable but only one extra segment is allowed at the beginning of the syllable. Many gaps in the clusters can be explained using syllable structure and sonority-based constraints. I also show how some of the gaps can be restricted by feature-based sequence constraints as well. This dissertation is an attempt to bridge the gap between OE and Modern English and to narrow the gap between old theories and new theories of linguistic methodology.