Omkearing en efterhelling: ta de partikels werom en wer

Abstract

Modern West Frisian possesses a particle werom that expresses reversal and a particle wer that  denotes repetition. In combination with a small class of verbs these two particles can be used next to each other with nearly the same meaning (e.g. weromjaan/werjaan).
In this article I will show that the possibility of using both werom and wer derives from the semantics of the pertinent verbs (or rather, verb phrases). Only if repetition of the verbal action necessarily implies its reversal, which is true for movement verbs expressing an 'accomplishment' and resisting an iterative interpretation, werom and wer are allowed to occur side by side.
Most other Germanic languages exhibit a 'werom'-type and a 'wer'-type particle as well (German zurück/wieder, Norwegian tilbake/igjen, etc.) and in all of these languages the two particles may appear next to each other with basically the same class of verbs as in Frisian. Only in Dutch and English the 'wer'-particle has become obsolete. It is my contention that the marginality of the 'wer'-particle in these languages is due to the existence of rival elements, viz. the prefixes her- in Dutch and re- in English.