2014-02-02
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Consonants. Proto-Germanic Consonant Shift
The specific peculiarities of consonants constitute the most remarkable distinctive feature of the Germanic linguistic group. Comparison with other languages within the IE family reveals regular correspondences between Germanic and non-Germanic consonants. Thus we regularly find [f] in Germanic where other IE languages have [p]; cf. e.g., E full, R полный, Fr plein; wherever Germanic has [p], cognate words in non-Germanic languages have [b] (cf. E pool, R болото). The consonants in Germanic look 'shifted' as compared with the consonants of non-Germanic languages. The alterations of the consonants took place in PG, and the resulting sounds were inherited by the languages of the Germanic group.
The changes of consonants in PG were first formulated in terms of a phonetic law by Jacob Grimm in the early 19th c. and are often called Grimm's Law. It is also known as the First or Proto-Germanic consonant shift (to be distinguished from the 2nd shift which took place in OHG in the 9th c.).
By the terms of Grimm's Law voiceless plosives developed in PG into voiceless fricatives (Act I); IE voiced plosives were shifted to voiceless plosives (Act II) and IE voiced aspirated plosives were reflected (See Note 1 to Table 3) either as voiced fricatives or as pure voiced plosives (Act III).
Consonant Shift in Proto-Germanic (Grimm's Law)
| Correspondence illustrated | Examples | |||||||
| Non-Germanic | Germanic | |||||||
| Old | Modern | |||||||
| PIE | PG | |||||||
| ACT I | ||||||||
| р | f | L pes, pedis | Gt fōtus, 0 Iсеl fótr, OE fot | Sw fot, NE foot G Fuß | ||||
| R пена | OE fām | G Feim, NE foam | ||||||
| L piscis, R пескарь | Gt fisks, OE fisc | G Fisch, NE fish | ||||||
| t | θ | L tres, R три | Gt preis, O Icel prír, OE prēo | Sw tre, G drei, NE three | ||||
| L tu, Fr tu, R ты | Gt pu, OE pu | G Sw du, NE thou | ||||||
| k | x | L соr, cordis, Fr coeur, R сердце | Gt hairto, O Icel hjarta, OE heort | G Herz, NE heart | ||||
| L canis | Gt hunds, OE hund | G Hund, NE hound | ||||||
| R колода | OE holt | G Hоlz, NE hοlt | ||||||
| ACT II | ||||||||
| b | p | Lith bala, R болото | OHG pfuol, OE pol | G Pfuhl, NE pool | ||||
| L labare, R слабый | Gt slepan, OE slǽpan | G schlafen, NE sleep | ||||||
| d | t | L decem, Fr dix, R десять | Gt taíhun, O Icel tíu, OE tīen | Sw tio, G zehn, NE ten | ||||
| Fr deux, R два | OE twa | NE two | ||||||
| L edere, R еда | Gt itan, OE etan | Sw ata, NE eat | ||||||
| L videre, R ведать, видеть | OE witan | G wissen, NE wit | ||||||
| g | k | L genu, Fr genou | OE cneo, Gt kniu | NE knee, G Knie | ||||
| L ager | Gt akrs, O Icel akr, OE cer | Sw aker, NE acre | ||||||
| L iugum, R иго | Gt juk, O Icel ok, OE еос | Sw ok, NE yoke | ||||||
| ACT III | ||||||||
| bh1 | v (or b) | 0 Ind bhrata, L frater, R брат | Gt bro'par, O Icel bróðir, OE bropor | Sw broder, G Bruder, NE brother | ||||
| L ferre, R беру | Gt baíran, OE beran | G gebären, NE bear | ||||||
| Fr future, R быть | OHG bin, bíst, OE beon | G bin, bist, NE be | ||||||
| dh | ð (or d) | 0 Ind rudhira, R рдеть | Gt raups, O Icel rauðr, OE read | G rot, Sw röd, NE red | ||||
| 0 Ind madhyas, L medius | Gt midjis [ð], OE middel | G Mittel, NE mid- dle | ||||||
| R делать | Gt gadeps, OE d d, don | NE deed, do | ||||||
| gh | γ (or g) | L hostis, R гость | Gt gasts, O Icel gestr, OE giest | Sw gast, G Gast, NE guest | ||||
| L (leg-) lectus, R залегать | Gt ligan [γ], O Icel liggja, OE liс аn | G liegen, NE lie | ||||||
| 0 Ind vaha, L via, R везти | Gt wiga [γ], 0 Icel vegr, OE we | Sw vag, G Weg, NE way | ||||||
| 1 It is assumed that PIE contained sets of aspirated plosives opposed to pure non-aspirated plosives: [bh, dh, gh] vs [b, d, g] as well as [ph, th, kh] vs [p, t, k]. The voiceless [ph, th, kh] are not included in the shift, since they behaved like the corresponding pure plosives [p, t, k] and probably were not distinguished in West IE. | ||||||||
Another important series of consonant changes in PG was discovered in the late 19th c. by a Danish scholar, Carl Verner. They are known as Verner's Law. Verner's Law explains some correspondences of consonants which seemed to contradict Grimm's Law and were for a long time regarded as exceptions. According to Verner's Law all the early PG voiceless fricatives [f, θ, x] which arose under Grimm's Law, and also [s] inherited from PIE, became voiced between vowels if the preceding vowel was unstressed; in the absence of these conditions they remained voiceless. The voicing occurred in early PG at the time when the stress was not yet fixed on the root-morpheme. The process of voicing can be shown as a step in a succession of consonant changes in prehistorical reconstructed forms; consider, e.g. the changes of the second consonant in the word father:
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