The Common Features of Old Germanic Languages

The starting point of English is the Germanic settlement. The Germanic tribes spoke Germanic languages and while developing, these languages acquired some specific features different from other Indo-European languages. All old Germanic languages reveal common features both in phonology and in morphology. In phonology they concern the peculiarities of the word stress and their consonant system. In morphology of Old Germanic languages they are reflected in the formation of the main forms of the verb and its conjugation on the one hand, and in substantive declension on the other hand.

Originally the stress in Germanic languages had been free, either the first or the second or the third syllable was stressed. Later that free system was substituted by a fixed stress system. In all Old Germanic texts the stress falls on the initial root syllable. The quality of the word stress also changed from tonic (with the rise of the tone on the stressed syllable) to a dynamic word stress (with exhaling it). The fixed dynamic word stress led to the reduction and omission of unstressed endings and as a result to the change of morphological system, it also greatly influenced the phonological system of Old Germanic languages which is vividly revealed in Jacob Grimm’s and Karl Verner’s laws.

The consonant system of Germanic languages is namely the result of the so called First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s law). If we compare the Germanic words with the corresponding ones in other IE languages we shall see regular correspondences between the consonants. J. Grimm pointed out three stages (acts):

1) IE voiceless stops p, t, k correspond to Germanic voiceless fricatives f, þ, h:

Russian первый, три, кто – English first, three, who;

2) IE voiced aspirated stops bh, dh, gh correspond to Germanic voiced stops without aspiration b, d, g: Sanscrit bhratar – Gothic broþar, Sanscrit madhu – OE medu “honey”, Latin hostis “enemy” – Gothic gasts “guest”;

3) IE voiced stops b, d. g correspond to Germanic voiceless stops p, t, k: Russian болото, дерево, иго – English pool, tree, joke.

Verner’s law adds the following note to Grimm’s law: if an IE voiceless stop p, t, k was preceded by an unstressed vowel, the voiceless fricative which developed from it in accordance with Grimm’s law f, þ, h became voiced v, D,U and later this voiced fricative became a voiced stop b, d, g: Greek hept a - Gothic sibun “seven”, Greek krat y s – Gothic hardus, Greek dek as – Gothic tigus “ten”.

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