Hrymes and Hvatnots: Alliteration in the Poetic Edda

This paper analyses based alliteration in the Poetic Edda and uses this analysis as a tool to uncoverwhether the language contained the phonemes /r̥/, /l/̥ , /n̥/, and /ʍ/. Data derived from this showsthat , <hl>, <hn>, and <hv> could quite freely alliterate with themselves, among themselves, andwith <h> + vowel, providing strong evidence against the existence of the voiceless phonemes, andstrongly indicates that <hC> had not yet undergone assimilation at this stage. Moreover, if theassertion of the first grammarian is to be believed - that /h/ did not change its articulation in anyenvironment, and on the basis of runic evidence, which shows that hagall often behaves similarly tofé, together with the alliterative behaviour of /h/, it is argued that /h/ in this stage of the languagecould have had a velar place of articulation in all environments, i.e. [x].