6. The First and Second Sound Shift: the separation of the
Germanic language grouping from the Indo-European language family
the first non-trivial systematic sound shift to be discovered in
the Germanic linguistics
its formulation was a turning point in the development of
linguistics, enabling the introduction of a rigorous methodology to
historical linguistic research.
The correspondence between Latin p and Germanic f was first
noted by Friedrich von Schlegel in 1806
1818 Rasmus Christian Rask elaborated the set of correspondences
to include other Indo-European languages such as
Sanskrit and
Greek,
and the full range of consonants involved
In 1822 Jacob Grimm: Deutsche Grammatik, formulated the law as a
general rule (and extended it to include standard German)
The exceptions that he noticed were over-viewed for several
decades but eventually received explanation from the Danish
linguist Karl Verner in his law that kept his name: Verners Law
Grimm's law consists of three parts which form consecutive
phases in the sense of a chain shift. The phases are usually
constructed as follows:
1. Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops change into voiceless
fricatives.
2. Proto-Indo-European voiced stops become voiceless stops.
3. Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirated stops become voiced
stops or fricatives (as allophones).
This chain shift can be abstractly represented as:
b>b>p> d>d>t> g>g>k>x
g>g>k>xHere each sound moves one position to the right to
take on its new sound value. Within Proto-Germanic, the sounds
denoted by
b, d, g and gw were stops in some environments and fricatives in
others, so b > b should be understood here as b > b/, and
likewise for the others. The voiceless fricatives are customarily
spelled f, , h and hw in the context of GermanicThe exact details
of the shift are unknown, and it may have progressed in a variety
of ways before arriving at the final situation. The three stages
listed above show the progression of a "pull chain", in which each
change leaves a "gap" in the phonological system that "pulls" other
phonemes into it to fill the gap. But it is also conceivable that
the shift happened as a push chain, where the changes happened in
reverse order, with each change "pushing" the next forward to avoid
merging the phonemes.
The steps could also have occurred somewhat differently. Another
possible sequence of events could have been:
1. Voiceless stops are allophonically aspirated under most
conditions.
2. Voiced stops become voiceless stops.
3. Aspirated stops become fricativesThis sequence would lead to
the same end result. This variety of Grimm's Law is often suggested
in the context of the glottalic theory of Proto-Indo-European,
which is followed by a minority of linguists. This theoretical
framework assumes that "voiced stops" in PIE were actually
voiceless to begin with, so that the second phase did not actually
exist as such, or was not actually devoicing but a loss of some
other articulatory feature such as glottalization. This alternative
sequence also accounts for the phonetics of Verners Law which is
easier to explain within the glottalic theory framework when
Grimm's Law is formulated in this manner.
Once Grimm's Law had taken place, there was only one type of
voiced consonant, with no distinction between voiced stops = voiced
fricatives>stops at the beginning of a word
,
The voiced aspirated stops may have > voiced fricatives.
(they may also have become stops at first, softening to fricatives
in most positions later) the voicing of the voiceless fricatives
For example:
Proto-Indo-European*brhtr ("brother") > Proto-Germanic *brr
(Old English broor, Old High German bruothar/bruodar)
Proto-Indo-European*phtr ("father") > Proto-Germanic *fadr
(Old English fder, Old High German fatar)
Here, the same sound *t appears as * in one word (following
Grimm's law), but as
*d in another (apparently violating Grimm's law) The early
Germanic *gw (from Proto-Indo-European *g (and from *k through
Verner's law) underwent further changes of various sorts:
After *n it was preserved as a labiovelar stop *gw, but later
changed to a plain velar *g in West Germanic Following vowels, it
seems to have become*w, presumably through a fricative stage*.
Word-initially, the most plausible reflex is a labiovelar stop
*g at first, but the further development is unclear. In that
position, it became either *w, *g or *b during late
Proto-Germanic.
The regular reflex next to *u would likely have been *g, due to
loss of the labial element before a labial vowel.
Further changes following Grimm's law as well as sound changes
in other Indo-European languages, can sometimes obscure its
effects. The most illustrative examples are used here.
MeaningNon-Germanic (unshifted) cognatesChangeGermanic (shifted)
examples
footAncient Greek: , (pos, pods), Latin: ps, pedis, Sanskrit:
pda, Russian: (pod) "under; floor", Lithuanian:pda, Latvianpda*p
> f []English: foot, West Frisian: foet, German: Fu, Gothic:
ftus, Icelandic, Faroese: ftur, Danish: fod, Norwegian,
Swedish:fot
thirdAncient Greek: (tritos), Latin: tertius, Welsh: trydydd,
Sanskrit: treta, Russian: (tretij), Lithuanian: treias,
Albanian:tret*t > []English: third, Old Frisian: thredda, Old
Saxon: thriddio, Gothic: ridja, Icelandic: riji, Danish: tredje
dogAncient Greek: (kn), Latin: canis, Welsh: ci (pl.cwn)*k >
h[x]English: hound, Dutch: hond, German: Hund, Gothic: hunds,
Icelandic, Faroese: hundur, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish:hund
whatLatin: quod, Irish cad, Sanskrit: kd, Russian: - (ko-),
Lithuanian: kas*k> hw[x]English: what, Gothic: a ("hwa"),
Icelandic: hva, Faroese:hvat, Danish: hvad, Norwegian: hva
deepLithuanian: dubs*b > p [p]English: deep, West Frisian:
djip, Dutch: diep, Icelandic:djpur, Swedish: djup, Gothic diups
tenLatin: decem, Greek: (dka), Irish: deich, Sanskrit: daan,
Russian: (desyat'), Lithuanian: deimt*d > t [t]English: ten,
Dutch: tien, Gothic: tahun, Icelandic: tu, Faroese: tggju, Danish,
Norwegian: ti, Swedish: tio
coldLatin: gel, Greek: (gelandrs), Lithuanian: gelmenis, gelum*g
> k [k]English: cold, West Frisian: kld, Dutch: koud, German:
kalt, Icelandic, Faroese: kaldur, Danish: kold, Norwegian: kald,
Swedish: kall
aliveLithuanian: gyvas*g > kw [k]English: quick, West
Frisian: kwik, kwyk, Dutch: kwiek, German: keck, Gothic: qius,
Icelandic, Faroese: kvikur, Danish: kvik, Swedish: kvick, Norwegian
kvikk
brotherSanskrit: bhrt, Ancient Greek: (phrtr) ("member of a
brotherhood")*b> b[b]/[]English: brother, West Frisian, Dutch:
broeder, German:Bruder, Gothic: broar, Icelandic, Faroese: brir,
Danish, Swedish, Norwegian: broder
honeySanskrit: mdhu, Homeric Greek: (methu)*d >
d[d]/[]English: mead, East Frisian: meede, Dutch: mede,
Danish/Norwegian: mjd, Icelandic: mjur , Swedish: mjd
walk, stepSanskrit: stighnoti, Ancient Greek: (stekhein)*g >
g[]/[]Old English: stgan, Dutch: stijgen, German: steigen,
Icelandic, Faroese: stga, Danish, Norwegian: stige, Gothicsteigan
(all meaning "ascend, climb")
singHomeric Greek: (ephth) "sang, sounded", (omph) "voice"*g>
gw[](after n)English: sing, West Frisian: sjonge, Dutch: zingen,
German:singen, Gothic: siggwan, Old Icelandic: syngva, syngja,
Icelandic, Faroese: syngja, Swedish: sjunga,
Danish:synge/sjunge
warmSanskrit:gharm-, Avestan:garm, Old Prussian:gorme*g > gw
> {b, g w}(otherwise merged with existing gand w)English: warm,
West Frisian: waarm, Dutch, German: warm, Swedish: varm, Icelandic:
varmur
This is strikingly regular. Each phase involves one single
change which applies equally to the labials (p, b, b, f) and their
equivalent dentals (t, d, d, ), velars (k, g, g, h) and rounded
velars (k, g, g, h). The first phase left the phoneme repertoire of
the language without voiceless stops, the second phase filled this
gap, but created a new one, and so on until the chain had run its
course.
Consonant clusters
When two obstruents occurred in a pair, the first underwent
Grimm's law if possible, while the second did not. If either of the
two was voiceless, the whole cluster was devoiced, and the first
obstruent also lost its labialization, if it was present.
Most examples of this occurred with obstruents preceded by *s
(resulting in *sp, *st, *sk, *sk), or obstruents followed by *t
(giving *ft, *ss, *ht, *ht) or *s (giving *fs, *ss, *hs, *hs). The
latter change was frequent in suffixes, and became a phonotactic
restriction known as the Germanic spirant Law. This rule remained
productive throughout the Proto-Germanic period. The cluster *tt
became *ss, but this was often restored to *st later on.
Examples with preceding *s:
Non-Germanic examplesChangeGermanic examples
Latin: spuere, Lithuanian: spjuti*spEnglish: spew, West Frisian:
spije, Dutch: spuwen, German: speien,Danish, Norwegian, Swedish:
spy, Icelandic: spja, Faroese: spggja, Gothic: speiwan
Latin: stre, Irish: stad, Sanskrit: sta, Russian: (stat'),
Lithuanian: stoti, Persian: (istdan)*stEnglish: stand, Icelandic,
Faroese, Norwegian: standa, Gothic: standan; West Frisian: stean,
Dutch: staan, German: stehen, Danish, Swedish: st
Lithuanian: skurdus*skEnglish: short, Old High German: scurz,
Icelandic: skorta
Irish: scal*skEnglish: scold, Icelandic: skld, Norwegian: skald;
West Frisian: skelle, Dutch: schelden, German: schelten
English and German later underwent a change/sk/>//. German
also changed /sp/ and /st/ to /p/ and /t/.
Diutch has /sk/ > /sx/, though this is a separate development
that occurred in Middle English.
Examples with following *t:
Non-Germanic examplesChangeGermanic examples
Ancient Greek: (klepts), Old Prussian: au-klipts
"hidden"*ptftGothic: hliftus "thief"
Latin: atta, Greek: (tta)*ttttOld High German: atto, Gothic:
atta "father"
Ancient Greek: (okt), Irish: ocht, Latin: oct*kthtEnglish:
eight, West Frisian, Dutch, German:acht, Gothic: ahtu, Icelandic:
tta(pronounced [auhta])
Irish: anocht, Latin: nox, noct-, Greek: , - (nks,
nukt-),Sanskrit: (naktam), Lithuanian: naktis, Hittite (genitive):
nekuz (pronounced/nekts/)*kthtEnglish: night, West Frisian, Dutch,
German:nacht, Gothic: nahts, Icelandic: ntt (pronounced [nouht]
Icelandic ntt /nouht/ comes from Old Norse ntt, ntt, from
Proto-Germanic *naht-. The Germanic *ht regularly becomes *tt in
Old Norse, and this then becomes preaspirated in Icelandic. Thus,
the [h] of the modern Icelandic form is not a direct descendant of
the Germanic /h/]The same ancestry holds for the /tt/ of Icelandic
tta as well
after a nasal consonants
fricatives elsewhere
