Characteristics of the Germanic Branch

1. Morphologically marked distinction between past and non-past tenses

Dental suffix /D/ or Vowel change (ablaut: systematic vowel change of roots)

PE sing-sang-sung (ablaut) PE work-worked-worked (dental suffix) Weak verbs (dental suffix)

OE dman dmde gedmed judge Strong verbs (ablaut) btan bt - biton - gebiten bite

2. Strong vs. weak forms of adjectives

Strong form Adjective + Noun: e.g., PE good water Weak form Demonstrative + Adjective + Noun
e.g., PE the good water Possessive Pronoun + Adjective + Noun e.g., PE my good water

OE micel guma Latin magnus homo PE (a) great man

se micela guma iste magnus homo the great man

3. Fixed stress accent on root initial syllable

IE free pitch accent vs. Gmc Fixed Stress Greek N. pus G. pods D. pod A. pda foot OE mdor mdor mdor mdor mother

(OE onbndan to unbind, gefoht battle, ndsaca apostate, onscan to deny)

4. First Germanic Consonant Shift (Grimms Law)(1)

Algeo (1993:109)
IE System After Step 1 After Step 2 (p t k)* p t k b d g bh dh gh p t k b d g f x b d g After Step 3 (p t k)* f x b d g f x p t k f x p t k b d g After Step 4 After Step 5

4. First Germanic Consonant Shift (Grimms Law)(2)

PIE voiceless stops */ptk/ > Gmc voiceless fricatives /fx/
*/p/ > /f/
Latin pedis, pes PE foot (pedestrian)

pater clepo

OE fder father (patriarchy) Goth hlifan steal (PE kleptomaniac)

OE uthou PE three OE heofud head (PE capital; chapter) PE hund(red)

*/t/ > // */k/ > /x/

Latin tu tres Latin caput centum

4. First Germanic Consonant Shift (Grimms Law)(3)

PIE voiced stops */bdg/ > Gmc voiceless stops /ptk/
*/b/ > /p/ */d/ > /t/ */g/ > /k/
Greek kannabis Latin dens, dentis duo Latin ager granum OE henep hemp PE tooth (dentist) two PE acre (agriculture) corn

4. First Germanic Consonant Shift (Grimms Law)(4)

PIE voiced aspirated stops */bh dh gh/ > Gmc voiced stops /b d g/
*/bh/ > /b/ */dh/ > /d/ */gh/ > /g/
Skt bharati Latin fero Skt madhu Latin hortus garden hostis enemy *bh f bh b *dh f dh d *gh h h g PE bear carry (ferry) PE mead PE garden (horticulture) Goth gasts stranger (PE hostile)

IE Lat Skt Gmc

Grimms Law (Apparent Exceptions)

After a voiceless stop Latin octo OE eahta Latin captus OE hft After [s] Lain spuo Latin stella Latin scutum shield eight captive

PE spit PE star Old Norse ski ski

Germanic voiceless fricatives /f x s/ (resulting Grimms Law) became voiced fricatives /f z/ when they were between voiced sounds and preceded by an unaccented vowel. Examples

Grimms Law (Apparent Exceptions): Verners Law

Latin caput head Greek kluts famous Greek deks group of ten

Gothic haubi OE hlud loud Gothic tigus (Sanskrit snus daughter-in-law OE snoru)

Cf. PE exmine, exrt, xellent, abslve, bolution

Grimms Law >Verners Law > Subsequent changes

Subsequent sound changes in some dialects

Rhotacism: [z] > [r]

(Latin fls flower, n.sg; *flsis g.sg > *flzis > flris)

Phonological strengthening: [v ] > [b d g]

Ordering of sound changes Grimms > Verners > Stress Shift > Rotacism/Phonological Strengthening

Historic Development of Some Words Affected by Grimms and Verners Law

IE Grimms Verners Stress Law Law Shift Rhotacism OE /Phon. Strengthen ing fder fder PE

*ptr

*far

*far

*fer

father

*wes- (pl.) --------

*wazn

*wzun

*wrun

wron were

*ws(sg.)

--------

--------

--------

--------

ws

was

Pre-OE Palatalization
Pre-OE: labial, dental, alveolar, velar (No Palatal!) Pre-OE palatalization of velars in some West Germanic dialects (ingvaeonic)

[k] > [], [g] > [j], [sk] > [] before or after
front vowels or the palatal glide [j]

Palatalization (1)
/k/ > // (spelled <> in OE)

OE ildru OE irie OE easter

German kinder Greek kurikon Latin castrum military camp

PE children PE church PE -chester: Manchester Winchester

(-caster: Lancaster) OE ealc OE eap No palatalization Latin calcem Latin caupo PE chalk PE cheap

OE corn OE cliff OE cent Kent OE cene keen OE cylen kiln OE cyssan kiss

Gothic kaurn Swedish klippa < Latin Cantia Old High German kuomi < Latin culima Old Saxon kussian

PE corn PE cliff

Palatalization (2)
*[sk] > [] (spelled <sc> in OE)

OE scip OE fisc

Danish skib NGmc fisk

PE ship (skipper) PE fish

How do we explain PE words like: skip, skin, skim, skill, sky (Scandinavian loan words)

Doublets produced by platalized vs. nonplatalized forms Doublets: two (or more) words from the same earlier form

Gmc *blaikjan,
OE blan, Old Norse bleikr PE bleach vs. bleak

OE sc[]yrte, Old Norse skyrta

PE shirt vs. skirt

Palatalization (3)
[g] > [j] (spelled <> in OE)

OE eolu
eard earn

German gelb
Danish gard German Garn

PE yellow
PE yard PE yarn

Palatalization in Old French

Lain /k/ > / / before /a/ in Norman French (NF) words, many of which were borrowed into English after the Norman Conquest:

Latin campus
Latin candela candle) Latin cantare

NF champion

PE champion (campus) NF chandelier PE chandler (chandelier, PE chant (cantata)

NF chanter

( )

( )

Pre-OE Umlaut (1)

Umlaut of back vowel in all Germanic dialects except Gothic before high vowels and the palatal glide [j] PGmc *[u] > [] (spelled <y> in OE) PGmc *[o] > [] (later spelled <e> in OE) The attraction of vowels towards the upper corner of the vowel space (I-Umlaut) (Lass 1994: 60) [-back] [+back] [+high] i u e o

Pre-OE Umlaut (2)

I-Umlaut and its morphological effect (Lass 1994: 61)
Input I-Umlaut i-deletion OE output PGmc gs goose PGmc ft foot Sg. *mu:s *mu:s *mu:s mu:s vs. vs. Pl. *mu:s-i*m:s-i- (phonetic) *m:s my:s (phonemic) gsiz geese ftiz feet PE long PE length

PGmc lang (Adjective) PGmc langi