Germanic Languages Germanic Cultures The First Consonant Shift

Germanic Languages Germanic Cultures

The First Consonant Shift • Grimm’s Law, formulated by Jacob Grimm in 1822, describes the differences in consonants between Germanic and other Indo-European languages. • Describes the different inventories of stop consonants in the languages. • Grimm observed regular correspondences among Indo-European Languages

Describing the Difference • Grimm (and Rasmus Rask) observed patterns of consonants – – Skt. pitár Lat. pater Gk. patē r Go. Faðar mātár māter mā tēr ON mōðir • Where one sees /p/ in other IE families, one finds /f/ in Germanic languages; where one finds /t/ one finds /θ/, or its allophones • Demonstration of change. • Grimm’s Fairy Tale.

Verner’s Revision • Grimm’s Law has exceptions, where it just doesn’t work out right. • Karl Verner, 1877, observed exceptions happened at the onset of the second syllable, so the consonant was intervocalic. – Also noticed aberrations with /s/. • OE wæs ‘he was’; wæron ‘they were’ • Verner reasoned it had to do with syllable stress.

Germanic Stress Pattern • Germanic languages have initial stress-stress on the first syllable. • Most other Indo-European language have stress on secondary syllables. • Germanic’s initial stress pattern wasn’t firmly established until after Gothic (post 400 AD).

Verner’s Law Illustrated • Latin caput should have Grimm’s outcome hafod as its cognate in all Germanic languages. In Gothic, haubiþ. • In some cases, what should be /s/ appears as /r/; hence, English was/were. • When intervocalic but followed by an unaccented syllable, /s/ becomes /z/, when preceded by an accented syllable, /r/.

Proto-Indo-European Grammar • PIE was a fully inflectional language, using a complex system of cases. • Nouns had three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter. • Verbs used three numbers, singular, dual, and plural. • Verbs used aspect (a verbal quality focusing on completion, duration, or repetition). • Verbs had three voices: active, passive, middle. • Verbs had five moods: indicative, subjunctive, optative, imperative, injunctive.

Germanic Inflections • Four true cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative. • Three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter. • Three persons: first, second, third. • Three numbers: singular, dual, plural. • Three moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative. • Active voice only. • Two tenses formed from the aspectual system: present, past.

Consequences of Consolidation • Suppletion: combination of multiple verbs with paradigms representing singular aspects into a full paradigm: ‘to be’. • Periphrastic constructions: reliance on single voice created need for complex grammatical constructions. • Analogy: loss of cases resulted in less correspondence between case and inflection.

Germanic Culture • Complex shared mythology among Germanic tribes. • Mass migrations beginning c. 400 AD. • Gothic bible. In Uppsala. Database • Gothic Lord’s Prayer • Artifacts from British Museum • Old English Pages; Comp. Lord’s Prayer