Common features of Germanic languages

 

 

As any other branch of the Indo-European (IE) languages, the Germanic languages have their own peculiarities in phonetics, grammar and word-stock. All the Germanic languages of the past and of the present have common linguistic features; some of these features are shared by other groups in the IE family, others are specifically Germanic. It is very important to know their peculiarities in order to be able to compare certain phenomena of Germanic languages with the correspondent phenomena of other IE languages. Such a comparison helps in many cases to understand better the relationship of a Germanic language to an IE language of another branch. Such a comparison helps to give a deeper explanation of different phenomena.

PHONETIC SYSTEM

Word Stress. It is believed that at the beginning of the Common Germanic period word-stress was free and movable, as in most other IE languages, which means, that it could fall on any syllable of the word. But some time later, still in Common Germanic, the stress became fixed on the first syllable, usually on the root vowel. Its position in the word became stable. The root-morpheme bore the heaviest stress while the other syllables, namely the suffixes and endings, remained unstressed or weakly stressed.

These features of the Common Germanic stress were inherited by all the Common Germanic dialects and despite later alterations the traces are still observed in the Modern Germanic languages. The fixed word-stress played an important role in the development of the Germanic languages, and especially in phonetic and morphological changes: the stressed and unstressed syllables underwent widely different changes: stressed syllables were pronounced with great distinctness, while unstressed became less distinct and were phonetically weakened. The differences between the sounds in stressed position were preserved and emphasized, whereas the contrasts between the unstressed sounds were weakened and lost. The weakening and loss of sounds mainly affected the suffixes and grammatical endings. Many endings merged with the suffixes, were weakened and dropped.

The System of Proto-Germanic Vowels. From an early date the treatment of vowels was determined by the nature of word-stress.

1. We observe a tendency of a gradual reduction of vowels in an unstressed position. In stressed syllables the oppositions between vowels were maintained; in unstressed positions the original contrasts between vowels were weakened or lost. So, by the age of writing the long vowels in unstressed syllables had been shortened. As for originally short vowels, they tended to be reduced to a neutral sound, losing their qualitative distinctions and were often dropped.

2. Strict differentiation of long and short vowels is commonly regarded as an important characteristic feature of the Germanic group, which distinguishes them from other IE languages.

3. Mutation of Vowels in Germanic languages. Mutation is a kind of regressive assimilation. The pronunciation of vowels was modified under the influence of the following or preceding consonants and even more so under the influence of succeeding vowels. Eventually, the modified vowel coincided with a vowel which was a different phoneme. At other times it could develop into a new phoneme. The earliest manifestation of this principle has been termed fracture or breaking.

Fracture concerns two pairs of vowels: a) e and i; b) u and o. For example, an IE e in the root syllable finds its counterpart in Germanic i, if it is followed by i, j or the cluster nasal + consonant. Otherwise the Germanic languages have in the corresponding words an e.

4. Vowel Gradation or Ablaut. Ablaut is a regular alternation of root vowels (e.g. write – wrote – written). In IE languages there is a special kind of vowel alternation, usually called gradation or ablaut. Vowel gradation did not reflect any phonetic changes, but was used as a special independent device to differentiate between words and grammatical forms built from the same root. Ablaut was inherited by Germanic from ancient IE. The principal gradation series used in the IE languages [e – o] was shown above in Russ. нести – ноша. This kind of ablaut is called qualitative, as the vowels differ only in quality. Alternation of short and long vowels, and also alternation with a “zero” (i.e. lack of vowels) represent quantitative ablaut.

The Germanic languages employed both types of ablaut. Of all its spheres of application in Germanic languages, ablaut was mostly used in building the principal forms of the verbs called strong (irregular). Each form was characterized by a certain grade. The system of gradation in Germanic languages is best seen in the strong verbs of the Gothic language; there exist 7 classes of strong verbs. Of all its spheres of application in Germanic languages, ablaut was mostly used in building the principal forms of the verbs called strong (irregular). Each form was characterized by a certain grade.

The System of Consonants in Common Germanic. The consonants in Germanic languages are characterised by a number of specific features. At first sight it may appear that Germanic consonants are similar to those of other IE languages. Like other IE languages, the Germanic languages have noise consonants and sonorant, plosives and fricatives, voiced and voiceless consonants. Yet, comparison of Germanic and non-Germanic consonants does not correspond to the same comparison in other languages. It has been found that during the Common Germanic period all the consonants were altered. The most important of all those alterations is commonly known as the Common Germanic consonant shift or Grimm’s Law.

The phenomena stated in the law of the first consonant shift were found out and first formulated by Jacob Grimm, a German linguist of the early 19th century. Accordingly, the law is also often called Grimm’s Law. It expresses regular correspondences between consonants of Germanic and those of other IE languages.

Grimm divided this shift into 3 parts, which he called acts. They took place at different times.

Act I: IE voiceless plosives are shifted to corresponding voiceless fricatives in Germanic.

 

IE p, t, k	Germanic f, Þ [ θ ], h
Lat. pes, pedis; Russ. пена	OE fot; NE foot (p – f); OE fām; NE foam (p – f)
Lat. tres; Russ. три; Mold. trei	OE Þreo; NE three (t –Þ)
Lat. cor,cordis; Fr. coeur; Russ. кров	OE heort; NE heart (k – n) OE hrof; NE roof (k – h)

 

Act II: IE voiced plosives are shifted to voiceless plosives in Germanic languages.

 

IE b, d, g	Germanic p, t, k
Russ. болото	OE pōl; NE pool (b – p)
Russ. слабеть	OE slēpan; NE sleep (b – p)
Russ. два; Rom. doi	OE twā; NE two (d – t)
Lat. genu; Fr. genou	OE cnēo; NE knee (g – k)

 

Act III: IE voiced aspirated plosives are reflected in Germanic as voiced plosives.

IE bh, dh, gh	Germanic b, d, g
OInd. bhrata Goth. brōÞar;	OE brōÞor; NE brother (bh – b)
OInd. rudhira; Russ. рдеть	OE read; NE red (dh–d)
Lat. hostis (enemy)	Goth. Gasts (guest) (gh – g)

 

Note: Not all the correspondences in Grimm‘s Law are quite clear (e.g. gh – g was not found in Sanskrit).

Summing up, we can say that the Germanic sounds are the result of a development of the original IE sounds, as they existed in the IE ancestor language.

Voicing of Fricatives in PG (Verner’s Law). Another important series of consonant changes in PG was discovered in the late 19th century 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. It was observed that in some words, where according to Grimm’s Law Act I, one should expect to find a voiceless fricative, one found a voiced fricative or a voiced plosive instead. Carl Verner later suggested that in early PG, at the time of the free word stress, fricative consonants became voiced, depending on the position of the stress.

Verner’s Law can be formulated as follows: All the Common Germanic voiceless fricatives became voiced between vowels (in intervocalic position), if the preceding vowel was unstressed and the immediately following vowel was stressed. In the absence of these conditions fricative consonants remained voiceless. In West and North Germanic languages later on such a voiced fricative changed into the corresponding voiced plosive.

 

IE	Grimm’s Law, Act I	Verner’s Law	North and West German
P	F	v	b
T pa'ter	Þ [θ] fa' θ ar > fa'ðar	Ð faðar	d fæder
K	H	Γ	g

 

Rhotacism. This vocalization also affected the fricative s: s – z.

In West and North Germanic languages this z developed into r: s – z – r. This is clearly shown by comparing:

Goth. hausjan (hear) – OE hieran – Germ. horen

Goth. laisjan (teach) – OE læran – Germ. lehren