Subdivision of the Germanic languages.

The English language belongs to the Germanic languages and the G/L is the brunch of the Indo-European language family. First it was one language, and then ethnic and linguistic disintegration within the G/L put an end to original unity and there appeared 3 subgroups of G/L.

1) East-Germanic subgroup (Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian); all of them are dead.

2) North-Germanic subgroup (Old-Norse, Old-Scandinavian). Later it became Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. There was Islatic and Faroesa. The linguists say that Faroesa was the language of Vikings.

3) West-Germanic tribes lived in the Ouder in the Albe. And then they spread up the Ruhn. They occupied many territories and they had many dialects: Anglian, Fresion, Saeson, English, German, Dutch, Jutish.

In spite of this subdivisions G/L made a distinct group within the Indo-European linguistic group because the had many features in common.

 

The First Consonant Shift.

Correspondence between I/E and Germanic consonants may be grouped under 3 categories: 1) I/E voiceless stops: p, t, k correspond to Germanic voiceless fricatives f, đ, h 2) I/E voiced stops b, d, g correspond to the G voiceless stops p, t, k 3) I/E aspirated stops bh, dh, gh correspond to the G voiced stops without aspiration b, d, g.

An essential feature of GLs separating them from other IE languages is their consonantal system, which developed from the original IE system. These regular correspondences between the consonants of GLs and IELs were discovered and systemized by Расмус Раск and Jacob Grimm. Called Grimm’s Law, or the 1^st consonant shift.

IE	Germ	Examples
/ p /	/ f /	Lat plěnus – Eng full
/ t /	/ þ /	Gr tres – Eng three
/ k /	/ h /	Lat octo – Goth ahtau
/ b /	/ p /	RU болото – Eng pool
/ d /	/ t /	Lat duo – Goth twan
/ g /	/ k /	RU иго – Eng yoke
/ bh /	/ b /	sanser bhratar – Eng brother
/ dh /	/ d /	sanser madhu – OE medu
/ gh /	/ g /	Lat hostiss - RU гость – DE gast

Instead of an expected voiceless stop in some word would appear a voiced stop. These was explained by Karl Verner.

 

 

Verner’s Low.

Not all correspondence stated in Grimm’s law are equal. In some cases in G/L we find consonants which do not fit into Grimm’s Low (pater - fadar). Explanation of this exception was offered by the Danish scholar Karl Verner. His low adds fallowing addition to the Grimm’s low. If an I/E voiceless stop was preceded by an unstressed vowel, the voiceless fricatives which developed from it an accordance with Grimm’s low, became voiced, and later this voiced fricative became a voiced stop

Unstressed vowel+voiceless stop  voiceless fricative  voiced fricative voiced stop /t/  /þ/  /ð/  /d/ In the Gr word patěr the voiceless stop /t/ was preceded by an unstressed root vowel. Under these conditions the voiceless fricative /þ/ which had developed from it in accordance with the 1^st consonant shift became a voiced fricative /ð/ and finally it developed into the voiced stop /d/, i.e. Lat patěr OE fæder /k/  /h/  /ɣ/ /g/ Besides that there is one more change under Verner’s low (s-z) In some cases s  r. In West-Germanic and N-G languages according to the linguistic phenomenon rhotasism (подчеркнутое произношение r) s  r.

 

 

Earliest Germanic Alphabet.

Through the history of their development GLs used 3 diff-nt alphabets, which partly succeeded each other in time.

Runic alphabet.

Letters – runes. It is supposed that the runic ABC is based on the Latin or some other Italic alphabet, close to Latin in writing. But the material and technique of writing used by Germanic tribes used in their early times caused considerable modifications of Latin in the Runic ABC.

It is supposes that the Runic ABC originated in the 2-3 AD on the banks of the Rhine or the Danuble were Germanic tribes could come into contact with Roman culture

Since the Runic ABC was used by diff-nt Germanic tribes (Goths, A-Saxons, Scandinavians) it was adapted to the needs of each of these languages. New letters were added into in, some of the original fell out

Ulphila

Ulphila’s Gothic ABC originated in the 4^th century. It is based on the Greek ABC but has some Latin and Runic letters. This is the ABC of Ulphila’s gothic translation of the Bible. But in modern editions of Goth text a Latin transcription of the Gothic ABC is used.

Latin alphabet

It began to be used when a new technique of writing was introduced. That is spreading of color, paint on a surface instead of cutting and engraving the letters.

Introduction of the Latin ABC was stimulated by the spread of Christianity, as Christian religious texts were written in Latin.

The Latin ABC was also modified to the peculiar needs of the separate GLs.

 

 

Gradation or ablaut in G/L.

Vowel gradations was inherited by GLs from ancient IE family of languages. There are distinguished 2 kinds of gradation: qualitative & quantative