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Peter Wiesinger: Bairisch W – B – P. Strukturelle Klärung eines alten Streitfalles

Those sounds which correspond to initial MHG wdisplay, together with medial MHG b, an unusual linguistic geographic distribution in Bavarian. Whilst the voiced bilabial lenis fricative w is found throughout the language region as such, Bavarian linguistic enclaves universally make use of the voiced lenis plosive b, which is also found in (East) Middle German linguistic enclaves influenced by Bavarian. Ernst Schwarz saw b as the result of a native development out of which the inland w subsequently developed. In contrast, Eberhard Kranzmayer held w to be the preserved original form and interpreted the b of the enclaves as an interference phenomenon attributable to the influence of the Romance or Slavic contact languages found there. This dispute has remained unresolved for 50 years. Alternative spellings from the original documentary records of place names from the 12th and 13th centuries and Bavarian German notary language which became established around 1275, collected together here for the first time, reveal that b-spellings for medial MHG w first emerged at the end of the 11th century and that hypercorrect w-spellings for medial MHG b can be dated back to the mid twelfth century. In contrast, b-spellings for initial MHG w, a single exception from Salzburg in around 1140 aside, first appear from the mid 13th century on. By employing a holistic structuralist approach to trace the development of Bavarian Old and Middle High German consonantal systems, it can be shown that b embodies the result of processes that are in line with the systems’ development. The dispute can thus be resolved in b’s favour.