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1 act
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2nd act
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3d act
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p] [f] pater – fadar
[t] [θ] tres – Þreis [ i:]
[k] [h] cor(d) - heorte
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[b] [p] слабый – slepan
[d] [t] древо – treow
[g] [k]горе - caru
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[bh] [b] bhrata – broðor
[dh] [d] vidhave –widve
[gh] [g] гость - Gast
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[bh – b - - p – f ]
[ dh – d - t- θ ]
[ gh – g – k – h ]
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The correspondences found between IE and Germanic consonants are interpreted in the following manner: the Germanic sounds are the result of a development of the original IE sounds caused by external and internal factors.
Verner’s Law
Careful investigation of Grimm’s Law revealed some inconsistencies, which were generally explained as exceptions to the rule. In some cases it is voiced stops rather than voiceless fricatives that correspond in Germanic to IE voiceless stop. For example,
Latin
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Greek
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Sanskrit
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Gothic
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Old English
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Pater
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pater
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pitar
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fadar
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fæder
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[t]
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[θ] ?? [d]
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The Danish scholar Karl Verner was the first to explain them as the result of further development of Germanic languages. According to Verner, all the early PG voiceless fricatives [f, θ, h] which arose under Grimm’s Law, became voiced between vowels if the preceding vowel was unstressed; otherwise they remained voiceless. The voicing of fricatives occurred in early PG at the time when the stress was not yet fixed on the root-morpheme.
[f – v- b] seofon
[θ – ð – d] O Icel. hundrað – hundert
[h – g] Goth. swaihro –OE sweger
[s – z – r] Lat. auris – Goth. auso – Icel. eyra (ear)
The change of [z] into [r] is called rhotacism.
As a result of voicing, there arose an interchange of consonants in the grammatical forms of the word, termed grammatical interchange. Part of the forms retained a voiceless fricative, while other forms acquired a voiced fricative. For example, heffen (Inf.) - huob Past sg.) heave; ceosan (choose) curon (Past pl.). Some modern English words retained traces of Verner’s Law: death – dead; was- were, raise – rear.
Throughout history, PG vowels displayed a strong tendency to change. The changes were of the following kinds: qualitative and quantitative, dependent and independent. Qualitative changes affect the quality of the sound, for example [o - a] or [p – f]; quantitative changes are those which make long sounds short or short sounds long. For example,[ i – i:]; dependent changes are restricted to certain positions when a sound may change under the influence of the neighbouring sounds or in a certain type of a syllable; independent changes or regular (spontaneous) take place irrespective of phonetic conditions, that is they may affect a certain sound in all positions. In accented syllables the oppositions between vowels were carefully maintained and the number of stressed vowels grew. In unaccented positions the original contrasts between vowels were weakened or lost; the distinction of short and 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 in unstressed final syllables (fiskaz).
Strict differentiation of long and short vowels is regarded as an important characteristic of the Germanic group. Long vowels tended to become closer and to diphthongize, short vowels often changed into more open vowels. IE short [o] changed in Germanic into more open vowel [a] and thus ceased to be distinguished from the original IE [a]; in other words in PG they merged into [o]. IE long [a:] was narrowed to [o:] and merged with [o:]. For example, Lat. nox Goth. nahts; Lat. mater OE modor; Sans. bhra:ta OE bro:ðor .
Languages can be classified according to different principles. The historical or genealogical classification, groups, languages in accordance with their origin from a common linguistic ancestor. Genetically, English belongs to the Germanic or Teutonic group of languages, which is one of the twelve groups of the IE linguistic family. Most of the area of Europe and large parts of other continents are occupied today by the IE languages, Germanic being one of their major groups.
The Germanic languages in the modern world are as follows: English - in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the South African Republic, and many other former British colonies and dominions; German – in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, part of Switzerland; Netherlandish - in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) (known also as Dutch and Flemish respectively); Afrikaans - in the South African Republic; Danish - in Denmark; Swedish - in Sweden and Finland; Norwegian - in Norway; Icelandic - in Iceland; Frisian - in some regions of the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany; Faroese - in the Faroe Islands; Yiddish - in different countries.
Lists of Germanic languages given in manuals and reference-books differ in some points, for the distinction between separate languages and also between languages and dialects varies. Until recently Dutch and Flemish were named as separate languages; Frisian and Faroese are often referred to as dialects, since they are spoken over small, politically dependent areas; the linguistic independence of Norwegian is questioned, for it has intermixed with Danish; Br E and Am E are sometimes regarded as two independent languages.
It is difficult to estimate the number of people speaking Germanic languages, especially on account of English, which in many countries is one of two languages in a bilingual community, e.g. in Canada. The estimates for English range from 250 to 300 million people who have it as their mother tongue. The total number of people speaking Germanic languages approaches 440 million. To this rough estimate we could add an indefinite number of bilingual people in the countries where English is used as an official language (over 50 countries).
All the Germanic languages are related through their common origin and joint development at the early stages of history. The survey of their external history will show where and when the Germanic languages arose and acquired their common features and also how they have developed into modern independent tongues.
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