Phonetic Peculiarities of Germanic Languages

The First Consonant Shift, or Grimm's Law

An essential feature of Germanic languages is their consonantal system, namely the

result of the so-called first consonant shift. The earliest statement of the shift was given by

Jacob Grimm, a German linguist of the early 19* century, in his work German Grammar.

Accordingly this shift is often called Grimm's law:

1. Indo-European voiceless stops (p, t, k) correspond to Germanic voiceless fricatives

(f, p, h).

2. Indo-European voiced stops (b, d, g) correspond to Germanic voiceless stops (p, t,

k).

3. Indo-European voiced aspirated stops (bh, dh, gh) correspond to Germanic voiced

stops without aspiration (b, d, g).

The correspondences found between Indo-European and Germanic consonants are

interpreted in the following manner: the Germanic sounds are the result of a development of

the original Indo-European sounds as they existed in the Indo-European ancestor language.

According to this interpretation, the first consonant shift is formulated in the following

manner: IE p becomes Germc. f, IE t becomes Germc. p, etc..

IE Germc.

e.g.: Lat. pater 'father' – Goth. fadar Russ. полный E. full

octo 'eight' ahtau два two

iugum 'yoke' juk Sanscr. bhratar brother

Verner's Law

It was noted long ago that in some words in Germanic languages we find consonants

which do not lit into Grimm's law, as formulated above. In some cases it is voiced stops,

rather than voiceless fricatives, that correspond in Germanic to IE voiceless stops.

Explanation of these apparent exceptions to Grimm's law was offered in 1877 by the

Danish scholar Karl Verner:

l.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.

e.g.: Lat. pater, Greek pater, Sanscr. pitar, Goth. fadar, OE fжder.

2.If the preceding vowel is unstressed, s in Germanic languages becomes voiced, i.e.

changes into z. In Western Germanic and Northern Germanic languages z becomes r. This

change is termed rhotacism.

e.g.: Goth. laisjan 'teach', OE lжran.

Stress in Germanic Languages

It is supposed that originally stress in Germanic languages had been free, that is, in

different words different syllables could be stressed. In the earliest Germanic texts we find a

system of fixed stress (on the first syllable). It was the result of a change of the original

free-stress system, which was superseded by a fixed-stress system.

Substratum Theory

There are some explanations of such important events in the history of Germanic

languages as the first consonant shift and change in the stress system. One of them is the so-

called substratum theory. According to it these changes were caused by events in the social

life of tribes speaking Germanic languages. It is supposed that Germanic languages arose as

a result of part of the tribes, who spoke Indo-European languages conquering some other

tribes, who presumably spoke some non-Indo-European languages. The conquered tribes

acquired the language of the conquerors, but in doing so they introduced some of their own

pronunciation habits, characteristic of the language they had been originally speaking.

These pronunciation habits determined the characteristic phonetic features of Germanic

languages, which came into being as a result of the conquest.

West-Germanic lengthening of Consonants

In West-Germanic languages there was a peculiar phenomenon in the sphere of

consonants. Every consonant (with the single exception of r) is lengthened if it is preceded

by a short vowel and followed by the consonant j. In writing the long consonant is

represented by doubling the consonant letter.

e.g.: OE sжstian>settan 'set'

Germanic Fracture

The vocalic system of Germanic languages has an important characteristic feature. The

quality of a stressed vowel is in some cases dependent on a following sound. The earliest

manifestation of this principle has been termed fracture or breaking. It concerns two pairs of

vowels: e/i and u/o.

1. An IE e in the root syllable finds its counterpart in Germc. i, if it is followed by i, j,

or the cluster 'nasal + consonant'. Otherwise the Germanic languages have in the

corresponding words an e.

e.g.: Lat. medius 'middle' OE midde

2. An IE u finds its counterpart in Germc. u, if it is followed by u or the cluster 'nasal

+ consonant'; otherwise the IE u finds its counterpart in Germc. o.

e.g.: Sanscr. sunus 'son' OE sunu

Gradation, or Ablaut

Ablaut is the alteration of a root vowel in different terms of the same words. The

system of gradation in Germanic languages is best seen in the so-called strong verbs of the

Gothic language:

Infinitive Past Singular Past Plural Second Participle

bindan 'bind' band bundum bundans

i: a u