It is, in fact, possible to reconstruct the history of the English vowel system with great accuracy, but not by internal reconstruction . ( In a nutshell, at the time of the atonic shortening, the tonic accent lay two syllables to the right of the affected vowel and was subsequently retracted to its present-day position.
12.
The accentual system of Latin is well-known, partly from statements by Roman grammarians and partly from agreements among the Romance languages on the location of tonic accent : the tonic accent in Latin fell three syllables before the end of any word with three or more syllables, unless the second-to-last syllable ( called the " penult " in classical linguistics ) was " heavy ", i . e . contained a diphthong, a long vowel, or was followed by two or more consonants, in which case that syllable has the tonic accent.
13.
The accentual system of Latin is well-known, partly from statements by Roman grammarians and partly from agreements among the Romance languages on the location of tonic accent : the tonic accent in Latin fell three syllables before the end of any word with three or more syllables, unless the second-to-last syllable ( called the " penult " in classical linguistics ) was " heavy ", i . e . contained a diphthong, a long vowel, or was followed by two or more consonants, in which case that syllable has the tonic accent.
14.
The accentual system of Latin is well-known, partly from statements by Roman grammarians and partly from agreements among the Romance languages on the location of tonic accent : the tonic accent in Latin fell three syllables before the end of any word with three or more syllables, unless the second-to-last syllable ( called the " penult " in classical linguistics ) was " heavy ", i . e . contained a diphthong, a long vowel, or was followed by two or more consonants, in which case that syllable has the tonic accent.
15.
Now, reduction in contrast in a vowel system ( for that is what has happened here ) is very commonly associated with position in atonic ( unaccented ) syllables, but in Latin the tonic accent of say " reficiM " and " refectus " is on the same syllable as simplex " faciM, factus ", and that is true of almost all of the examples given ( " c�lligM, r�dimM, + licM " ( initial-syllable accent ) are the only exceptions ), and indeed for most of the examples of these alternations throughout the language.
