Indo-European voiced stops-звонкие взрывные-(b, d, g) correspond to Germanic voiceless stops-глухие взрывные-(p, t, k)

The First Consonant Shift, or Grimm’s Law.

Phonetic Peculiarities of Germanic Languages

ЛЕКЦИЯ VII

An essential feature of Germanic languages is their consonantal system, namely the result of the so-called first consonant shift.

The phenomena stated in the law were found out by comparative linguists early in the 19^th century: by the Danish scholar Rasmus Rack and by the German linguist Jacob Grimm. The earliest statement of the shift was given in Grimm’s work “German Grammar”, published in 1822. Accordingly the law is also called Grimm’s law. It expresses regular correspondences between consonants of Germanic and those of the other Indo-European languages. The correspondences may be grouped under three categories:

1) IE voiceless stops - глухие взрывные- (p, t, k) correspond to Gmc. voiceless fricatives- глухие щелевые- (f, þ, h):

n p-f (лат. plenus – готск. fulls – русск. полный)

n t-þ (лат. tres – англ. three – русск. три)

n k-h (лат. noctem – готск. nahts)

In some cases the correspondences did not take place:

n If there were two consonants together, only the former changed, the latter remained unchanged: лат. no c t em – готск. na h t s, лат. o c t o – готск. a h t au.

n If there was s before the consonant, it did not change: лат. s t are – готск. s t andan – русск. с т оять.

n b-p (русск. б олото- англ. p ool)

n d-t (русск.. д ва – готск. t wai)

n g-k (лат. e g o’я’- др.англ. i c [ik’])

3) Indo-European voiced aspirated stops- звонкие взрывные придыхательные -(bh,dh,gh) correspond to Germanic voiced stops- звонкие взрывные -(b,d,g)

n bh-b (санскр. bh ratar ‘брат’ – готск. b rōþar)

n dh-d (санскр. ma dh u ‘мёд’ – др.англ. me d u)

n *gh-g (лат. h ostis‘враг‘– готск. g asts ‘гость‘- русск. г ость)

QUESTIONS. 1) What is the essence of the so-called First Consonants Shift? 2) When were the phenomena stated in the law of the First Consonants Shift found out? 3) Why is the law also often called Grimm’s Law? 4) Under what categories can correspondences between IE and Germanic consonants be grouped?

Verner’s Law. In some cases we find in Germanic Languages consonants which do not fit into Grimm’s Law. In some words it is voiced stops (звонкие взрывные), rather than voiceless fricatives глухие щелевые), that correspond in Germanic to IE voiceless stops (глухие взрывные):

n t>d (греч. pa t `er– др.англ. fæ d er– русск. ‘о т ец‘)

n k>g (греч. de k `as ‘ десять’ - готск. ti g us)

In 1877 the Danish scholar Karl Verner offered an explanation of these exceptions. If an IE voiceless stop was preceded by an unstressed vowel, the voiceless fricative which developed from it in accordance with Grimm’s Law became voiced, and later this voiced fricative became a voiced stop.

n t>d: греч. pa t `er- др.англ. fæ d er - русск. ‘о т ец‘: t is preceded by an unstressed vowel a => þ which developed from it in accordance with Grimm’s Law became a voiced fricative ð, which developed into the voiced stop d.

Thus, these are not exceptions to Grimm’s Law, but results of a further development of a consonant resulting from this law:

n k-h (греч. `de k a- русск. `де с ять- готск. `tai h un) –Grimm’s Law, but

n k-g (греч. de` k as- русск. де` с яток- готск. ti g us)- Verner’s Law.

The voiceless consonant s is also affected by Verner’s Law: If the preceding vowel is unstressed, s in Germanic languages becomes voiced, i.e. changes into z. Eventually z becomes r in Western Germanic and Northern Germanic languages (but not in Gothic). This latter change z>r is called Rhotacism: Goth. lai s jan ‘teach’ – OE læ r an – Gm. Leh r en.

Substratum Theory. What could be the cause of the consonant shift? There are two possible ways: internal factors and external factors. Substratum theory is based on the latter. Its essence is the following: It was caused by events in the social life of tribes speaking Germanic languages. The conquered tribes (speaking some non-IE languages) acquired the language of the conquerors (speaking IE languages), introduced some of their own pronunciation habits. It determined the characteristic phonetic features of Germanic languages.

Questions: 1) Why do in some cases the results of the First Consonant Shift differ from expected? 2) What is the essence of Verner’s law? 3) What could be the cause of the Consonant Shift? 4) What is the essence of Substratum Theory?

The Second Consonant Shift occurred in High German dialects (Southern Germany). Its essence is the following: The Common Germanic voiced stop d corresponds to High German voiceless stop t: OE d ōn ‘do’– HG t un; OE be dd ‘bed’, Goth. Ba d i– HG Be tt.

The Common Germanic voiceless stop p corresponds to High German voiceless fricative f after a vowel: OE ho p ian ‘hope’- HG ho ff en.

The Common Germanic voiceless stop k corresponds to High German voiceless fricative ch[x] after a vowel: OE ma c ian ‘make’ – HG ma ch en.

The Second Consonant Shift occurred between the 5th and 7th centuries A.D.

1) Questions: 1) What dialects did the Second Consonant Shift occur in?2) What is its essence?

Vowels. The main characteristic feature in the sphere of vowel sounds is the treatment of the IE short vowels a and o and the long vowels ō and ā.

IE short o and a appear as short a in Germanic languages: IE n o ctem, Russ. н о чь- Goth. N a hts, Germ. N a cht. (o-a)

IE long ō and ā appear as long ō in Germanic languages: Lat. Fr ā ter, Greek phr ā tōr - Goth. br ō þar, OE brōþor (ā-ō); Lat. fl ō s ‘flower’- OE bl ō ma (ō-ō).

Conclusion: there was neither a short o nor a long ā in Germanic languages. Later on these sounds appeared from different sources.

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