To return to the diphthongization of secondary palatal



West Saxon. 93

vowels and the development of sk. A notable feature of
the examples, and a test of them, indeed, is their occurrence
in variant forms without diphthongization, e. g. sa^/i,
scez ig^ scSp, scendan, etc., beside scea/i, sciendan, etc.
An explanation of this fact might be sought in the assump-
tion that the diphthongization was sporadic and that diph-
thongized forms remained beside those diphthongized. But
this is not an adequate explanation, if a more specific one
can be offered ; the element of apparent haphazard may not
perhaps be removed, but it may perhaps be shown why
diversity of development, though still seemingly accidental,
was possible.
