The phenomenon of stress in Old English (OE) has been the subject of thorough and extensive study for well over a century. Indeed the foundation for any modern study remains the work of Eduard Sievers (1885, 1893a, b), well summarized in Campbell (1959). The present paper is not concerned with a revision of the 'facts' of Sievers' account, although we shall note below instances where we disagree with those facts, but rather with a linguistic explanation of those facts. Sievers' account is essentially a statistical presentation of varying stress patterns, and he made little attempt to provide explanations of either frequent patterns, or non-existent ones. The framework in which we shall operate is that of lexicalist metrical phonology. Within that framework we shall attempt to demonstrate that Old English stress was organized in a way very different from that in Modern English. Most particularly we shall suggest that there is a central rule (the Old English Stress Rule = OESR) which, in contrast to the central rule for present-day English (PDE), operated from left-to-right. This, we shall suggest, has direct implications for the operation of other features of stress derivations, such as Destressing. Further, we shall argue that it is probable that level-ordering has no role to play in the stress phonology of Old English. Recent work on OE stress includes the linear analysis by Halle & Keyser (1971) and the non-linear account(s) of Suphi (1985; 1988). It is important to note that these works, especially the last, also refer back to Sievers' analysis, although both depart fairly radically from it. Sievers' work is restricted to the analysis of poetry (especially Beowulf, e.g. Sievers, 1885). There is, therefore, a major lacuna in that the analysis of stress patterns in prose is largely lacking (but see, for example, Mclntosh, 1949, for some suggestions and Daunt, 1946, for the relation between OE verse and the rhythms of non-literary language). The present account suffers from the same defects, and there remains much work to be done in this area. For ease of [1] The first versions of this paper were given at meetings of the Linguistics Seminar, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Manchester in December 1987, and the Dept. of English, University of Durham in 1988. We are grateful for the suggestions and criticisms made on those occasions. We have also benefited from discussions with Nigel Vincent and Heinz Giegerich, as well as from the comments made by Geoffrey Russom and the referees of this paper for JL. Any mistakes that remain are our own.

SUMMARYThe form and distribution of Middle English poetic texts is neither accidental nor the sole consequence of French (or Latin) literary influence. In particular, we claim that changes in poetic form are enabled by language change, specifically and in the Middle English period by changes in word- and phrase-stress patterning. Such linguistic changes initially take place in different dialects at different rates. Since dialects show at least partial synchronic isomorphism between phonological and metrical forms, it is reasonable to explore the consequences of such isomorphism in Middle English, and come to some (tentative) conclusions about the metres, the alliterative patterning, and the di-atopic variation in Middle English verse. We include data and analyses connected with the coming of systematic rhyme, different forms of alliterative writing, metrical promotion and subordination, and isosyllabism. These help to justify the initial assumptions that dialect variation is metrically significant and that poetic form and change is enabled by changes in stress-patterning.RÉSUMÉLa forme et la disuibution des textes poétiques du moyen anglais n'est ni le résultat d'un accident ni entièrement la conséquence de l'influence littéraire française (ou latine). Nous prétendons, en particulier, que les changements dans la forme poétique deviennent possibles grâce aux changements dans la langue, plus spécifiquement, durant la période du moyen anglais, grâce aux changements au niveau de l'accentuation des mots et des phrases. Initialement, de tels changements linguistiques se produisent dans des dialectes différents et à des vitesses différentes. Puisque les dialectes démontrent un isomorphisme du moins partiellement synchronique entre les formes phonologiques et métriques, il semblerait raisonnable d'explorer les conséquences d'un tel isomorphisme en anglais moyen et d'en venir à quelques conclusions préliminaires sur sa métricité, son allitération et sa variation diatopique. Nous incluons, par ailleurs, les données et les analyses reliées à l'avènement de la rime systématique, aux diverses formes d'allitération, à la promotion et subordination métrique, aussi bien qu'à l'isosyllabisme. Tout cela contribue à justifier les suppositions initiales, voire que la variation dialectale a une importance de nature métrique et que la forme ainsi que le changement poétique sont motivés par des changements au niveau de l'accentuation.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGDie Art und Verbreitung der mittelenglischen Literatur ist weder zufällig noch als das Ergebnis franzosischer (oder lateinischer) Einflüsse anzusehen. In diesem Aufsatz wird vornehmlich die Auffassung vertreten, daß Ânderungen in der dichterischen Form durch Sprachwandel ermoglicht werden. Während der mittelenglischen Periode geschah dies vor allem durch Ânderungen im Be-tonungsmuster von Wörtem und Wortgruppen. Solche sprachlichen Veränderungen traten in den verschiedenen Dialekten weder gleichzeitig noch regel-maßig auf. Da die Dialekte synchron gesehen zumindest teilweise eine Isomor-phie zwischen phonologischen und metrischen Strukturen aufweisen, lassen sich im Mittelenglischen einige Folgen dieser Isomorphic untersuchen. Sie erlauben zumindest einige vorläufige Schliisse iiber Metrik, Stabreimmuster und diatopische Varianten in der mittelenglischen Dichtung. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wurden Materialien und Analysen berücksichtigt, die sowohl mit dem Auftreten des Endreims als auch mit den verschiedenen Formen der Stabreim-dichtung zusammenhängen, etwa mit dem Isosyllabismus und der metrischen Profilierung oder Unterordnung. Dièse bestätigen großtenteils unsere An-nahmen, da8 Verschiedenenheiten innerhalb der Dialekte fur die Metrik von Bedeutung sind und da6 der Wandel in der poetischen Ausdrucksform durch Ànderungen im Wortbetonungsmuster ermoglicht wird.

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The Sound Structure of English provides a clear introduction to English phonetics and phonology. Tailored to suit the needs of individual, one-term course modules, it assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, and presents the basic facts in a straightforward manner, making it the ideal text for beginners. Students are guided step-by-step through the main concepts and techniques of phonetic and phonological analysis, aided by concise chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and a comprehensive glossary of all the terms introduced. Each chapter is accompanied by an engaging set of exercises and discussion questions, encouraging students to consolidate and develop their learning, and providing essential self-study material. The book is accompanied by a companion website, featuring solutions to the exercises and useful additional resources. Providing the essential knowledge and skills for those embarking on the study of English sounds, it is set to become the leading introduction to the field.

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