The English language as well as the German language belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, which includes most of the languages spoken in Europe. All languages go through a process of change as human beings do the same. It happens very often that they are the reason for a change such as the introduction of spelling and pronunciation rules. Some languages are only affected by minor sound changes but the major sound changes affect all languages as it affects the people, who speak this language. For instance, although the German language was also affected by Grimm’s Law as it is the most famous sound law in the history of linguistics, they reason why the German language, especially High German, differs so much from Low German and other Indo-European languages is the High German consonant shift or what it is called in German “zweite Lautverschiebung.” Consequently, the High German consonant shift is responsible for the development of the different dialects in the German-speaking nations.
Introduction:
The English language as well as the German language belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, which includes most of the languages spoken in Europe. All languages go through a process of change as human beings do the same. It happens very often that they are the reason for a change such as the introduction of spelling and pronunciation rules. Some languages are only affected by minor sound changes but the major sound changes affect all languages as it affects the people, who speak this language. For instance, although the German language was also affected by Grimm’s Law as it is the most famous sound law in the history of linguistics, they reason why the German language, especially High German, differs so much from Low German and other Indo-European languages is the High German consonant shift or what it is called in German “zweite Lautverschiebung.” Consequently, the High German consonant shift is responsible for the development of the different dialects in the German-speaking nations.
Discussion:
The differences between Proto-Indo-European, which will be called PIE in the following, languages started with Grimm’s Law, which is based on several sound changes over a period of time and results in a shifting of “all inherited Proto-Indo-European stops” (Fortson, 301).
At first, the voiceless stops of PIE were changed into voiceless fricatives f, p, and h. However, there were also connections such as pt and kt, in which only the first part was changed. This process is called “Tenues-Spiranten-Wandel” (May, 2008, p. 3) in German. Second, the “Mediae-Tenues-Wandel” (May, 2008, p. 3) took place, which means that voiced stops were exchanged with voiceless stops. Consequently, b became p, d was converted into t and g turned into k.Finally, the voiced aspirates were turned into plain voiced stops, which are called “Mediae aspiratae-Spiranten-Wandel” (May, 2008, p. 3).
The consequence of Grimm’s Law is the fact that the Indo-European plosives, which were voiced before Grimm’s Law, became voiced fricatives in the Germanic languages. Although there were other sounds changes as well, Grimm’s Law had the biggest impact on the development of the Germanic languages up to the second consonant shift, which took only place in German and is the reason for the differentiation between German and other languages such as English.
The second consonant shift seems to be the reason for the development of different dialects within the Germanic-speaking area as only a limited area was affected by it. Some people do believe that this consonant shift took place in 500 A.D. but other people argues that it happened in 600 A.D. and was not finished until 800 A.D because the reason for this consonant shift is still not known, so a lot of people speculate about the actual time period in which it took place. However, there are two different opinions regarding the development of the second consonant shift.
Some researcher believe that it development started in the north and went to the south in several steps. In contrast to most researchers, Norbert Wolf, who wrote “Durchführung and Verbreitung der zweiten Lautverschiebung in den deutschen Dialekten,” argues that it was an autochthonous development and that it was also possible to differentiate between High German and Middle German before the second consonant shift.
According to Orrin Robinson, the author of “Old English and its Closest Relatives”, there was not only a development of different dialects with the German language but it is also “the most important factor that distinguishes the major Old High German dialects from each other.” (Robinson, 2003, p. 239) The development of the different dialects within the High German-speaking area began with a change from the Germanic sounds p, t, and k to f, z, and g. Sometimes there were also double fricatives pp, tt, and kk but only after vowels and they were turned into ff, zz, and gg. The double pp, tt, and kk were affected quite differently […] than the single [fricatives] were,” so that in many cases, the double fricatives were simplified by the deletion of one fricative. (Robinson, 2003, p. 239)
The following words are an example of the influence of the second consonant shift:
Old Saxon Old High German English (modern)
opan offan open
etan ezzan (to) eat
makon mahhon (to) make
(taken from Robinson, 2003, p. 240, and May, 2008, p. 5)
These examples clearly show that “p shifted to a geminate ff; t to a geminate [ss], spelled zz and k to a geminate [xx], which is spelled either hh or ch.” (Robinson, 2003, p. 240) This change affected the complete High German-speaking area but other changes only happened in certain parts of southern German-speaking area such as the change from p to pf.
Old Southern German Old Middle High German English (modern) pflegan plegan (to) tend
helpfan helpan (to) help
skepfen skeppian (to) create
(taken from Robinson, 2003, p. 240, and May, 2008, p. 5)
This sound change only happened in Bavaria, Alemannic area, and East Franconia. These changes do not need support by examples from Old Saxon as they can easily be compared within the internal German domestic.
Futher, as stated by Robinson, there was also a change from t to [ts], which was usually spelled z, and k turned into [kx], which was spelled ch or kh in a number of cases. The following examples support his argument:
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- Quote paper
- Annemarie Wendicke (Author), 2008, The German Consonant Shift, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/135541
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