The remodelling of u-stem adjectives in West Germanic

Abstract

In Proto-Germanic, strong adjectives are declined according to stem type. The minor u­-stem class of adjectives is only preserved in Gothic, and even there it is under pressure from more frequent classes. In West Germanic, members of this class are redistributed into the common a-/ō-stem and ja-/jō-stem classes. The present study analysed the reflexes of all Proto-Germanic u-stem adjectives in Kroonen (2013) in the different West Germanic languages. It was found that a plurality are transferred into the ja-/jō-stem class in all languages. However, a considerable number of them have a-/ō-stem reflexes in some languages but ja-/jō-stem ones in others, while certain adjectives can show reflexes of both types within one language. Anglo-Frisian has the largest number of a-/ō-stem outcomes, and High German the most ja-/jō-stem ones, with Dutch and Low German falling somewhere in between. Therefore, the remodelling of u-stem adjectives necessarily postdates a period of West Germanic unity.