DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1167#0176
vowel on the one hand and the number of consonants which followed this vowel at an
earlier stage of Egyptian on the other. This rule is the following:
The stressed vowel is high whenever exactly two consonants followed it at
a Pre-Coptic stage; the stressed vowel is low when one or three (i.e. an
odd number of) consonants followed.
For example, A&CT^ "to give birth to him" goes back to ms.t-f which indicates that three
consonants already followed the stressed vowel in Egyptian. In MICE "to give birth", the
stressed vowel seems to be followed by one consonant. However the Egyptian predeces-
sor ms.t shows a second consonant -t which was lost only later.
The rule presupposes the consonantal skeleton of a stage of the language at which the
consonantal losses discussed in § 3.14 had not yet taken place, i.e. approximately Middle
or Old Egyptian. It is further necessary to count those consonants (mostly glides and
sonorants) which can be omitted in writing ("defective writing", Kg* § 2.6.4). This leads
to two important conclusions: 1) glides are actually consonants, the graphemes in ques-
tion must not be interpreted as vowel indicators; 2) glides may be graphically suppressed
but are nevertheless present on the phonological level of Egyptian.
This principle was first observed by Steindorff (1894) although he gave it a quite
different formulation (Kg* 4.3.2), and it has been a crucial premise of all research into
Egyptian phonology since. I have undertaken an examination to determine the degree to
which it actually holds true. Appendix 4 contains a list of all words found in a Middle
Kingdom manuscript of the story of Sinuhe that were preserved in Coptic. My conclusion
is that there is indeed a strong correlation between vowel height in Coptic and the
number of formerly following consonants, although there are some exceptions. Thus I
assume that the rule is basically valid, however further qualifications of the rule should
be expected in the future and have actually been proposed (P3f° § 4.8.6).
4.3 The "standard theory" of Egyptian syllabification
4.3.± Basic principles
The observation presented in the preceding section calls for a phonetically plausible
interpretation. It is difficult to see how the mere number of consonants following a vowel
should affect its development. Rather, the number of consonants following the stressed
vowel must somehow be related to a phonological feature of the stressed syllable itself.
Steindorff (1894) first suggested that this feature is the openness vs. close-
ness of the stressed syllable, an assumption which has basically been accepted until
the present day. The stressed syllable is assumed to be open if an even number of
consonants follow and closed if an odd number of consonants follow.
In order to predict the openness vs. closeness from the number of consonants following
the stressed vowel, a set of syllabification rules and related assumptions need to be
176
earlier stage of Egyptian on the other. This rule is the following:
The stressed vowel is high whenever exactly two consonants followed it at
a Pre-Coptic stage; the stressed vowel is low when one or three (i.e. an
odd number of) consonants followed.
For example, A&CT^ "to give birth to him" goes back to ms.t-f which indicates that three
consonants already followed the stressed vowel in Egyptian. In MICE "to give birth", the
stressed vowel seems to be followed by one consonant. However the Egyptian predeces-
sor ms.t shows a second consonant -t which was lost only later.
The rule presupposes the consonantal skeleton of a stage of the language at which the
consonantal losses discussed in § 3.14 had not yet taken place, i.e. approximately Middle
or Old Egyptian. It is further necessary to count those consonants (mostly glides and
sonorants) which can be omitted in writing ("defective writing", Kg* § 2.6.4). This leads
to two important conclusions: 1) glides are actually consonants, the graphemes in ques-
tion must not be interpreted as vowel indicators; 2) glides may be graphically suppressed
but are nevertheless present on the phonological level of Egyptian.
This principle was first observed by Steindorff (1894) although he gave it a quite
different formulation (Kg* 4.3.2), and it has been a crucial premise of all research into
Egyptian phonology since. I have undertaken an examination to determine the degree to
which it actually holds true. Appendix 4 contains a list of all words found in a Middle
Kingdom manuscript of the story of Sinuhe that were preserved in Coptic. My conclusion
is that there is indeed a strong correlation between vowel height in Coptic and the
number of formerly following consonants, although there are some exceptions. Thus I
assume that the rule is basically valid, however further qualifications of the rule should
be expected in the future and have actually been proposed (P3f° § 4.8.6).
4.3 The "standard theory" of Egyptian syllabification
4.3.± Basic principles
The observation presented in the preceding section calls for a phonetically plausible
interpretation. It is difficult to see how the mere number of consonants following a vowel
should affect its development. Rather, the number of consonants following the stressed
vowel must somehow be related to a phonological feature of the stressed syllable itself.
Steindorff (1894) first suggested that this feature is the openness vs. close-
ness of the stressed syllable, an assumption which has basically been accepted until
the present day. The stressed syllable is assumed to be open if an even number of
consonants follow and closed if an odd number of consonants follow.
In order to predict the openness vs. closeness from the number of consonants following
the stressed vowel, a set of syllabification rules and related assumptions need to be
176