A note on syllable constituency in Old Norse

Abstract

This paper discusses issues surrounding the syllabification of Old Norse for the purposes of metrics. I compare two competing hypotheses, namely the Coda Maximization approach of

with the Onset Maximization approach of and other recent scholars. In general, these two approaches differ little in the predictions they offer. Where they do differ, there are other assumptions that come into play and make a direct comparison difficult. Although the OM approach is usually favored in phonology, I show that the CM approach has certain advantages, including its ability to handle internal rhyme. Furthermore, I also point to work in phonology where CM has been proposed to better account for various phenomena in a number of typologically diverse languages.