In the Early Modern English period (roughly 1500s–1700s), the use of the letters <u> and <v> went through a change from a positionally constrained system (initial <v>, medial <u>) to a system based on phonetic value, with <u> marking vowel and <v> consonant sounds. The exact dynamics of this transition have received little attention, however, and the standard account is exclusively based on printed sources. Using a dataset of ca. 4,000 examples from over 100 handwritten legal documents from the witch trials in Salem, MA, in 1692–1693, this study indicates that the current narrative is oversimplified and that behind the transition from one system to another lies a complex process of experimentation and variation. The study charts the <u> and <v> usage in the handwriting of nineteen recorders who subscribe to various “mixed” systems that conform neither to the positional nor the phonetic system. In addition to the positional and phonetic constraints, a range of other linguistic and extralinguistic factors appears to have influenced the recorders’ alternation between <u> and <v>, from lexical item and graphotactics to textual history.

中文翻译：

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英语史上的“U”和“V”交替

在早期现代英语时期（大约 1500 年代至 1700 年代），字母 <u> 和 <v> 经历了从位置约束系统（初始<v>，中间<u>）到基于语音值的系统的变化，<u> 标记元音和 <v> 辅音。然而，这种转变的确切动态几乎没有受到关注，标准账户完全基于印刷资料。使用 ca 的数据集。从 1692-1693 年马萨诸塞州塞勒姆的女巫审判的 100 多份手写法律文件中提取了 4,000 个示例，这项研究表明当前的叙述过于简单化，从一个系统到另一个系统的过渡背后是一个复杂的实验和变化过程。该研究绘制了 <u> 和 < v> 在 19 名记录员的笔迹中使用，这些记录员订阅了各种“混合”系统，这些系统既不符合位置系统，也不符合语音系统。除了位置和语音限制之外，一系列其他语言和语言外因素似乎也影响了录音机在 <u> 和 <v>，从词汇项目和直写到文本历史。