Lecture 1 First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law) ie g aspirated Voiced voiced stops stops bh > b

LECTURE 1
First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law)
IE G
Aspirated Voiced
voiced stops stops
bh > b (Sanskr. bhrāta – Goth. brōþar)
dh > d (OInd. madhyas – Goth. midjis, E middle)
gh > g (*IE ghostis – Goth. gasts)


IE G
Vioced Voiceless
stops stops
b > p (Ukr. болото – E pool)
d > t (Lat. duo, Ukr. два - Goth. twai, E two)
g > k (Lat. iugum, Rus. иго – E joke)


IE G
Voiceless Voiceless
stops fricatives
p > f (Sanskr. pitár – Goth. fadar)
t > þ (OInd. trayas, Ukr. три – Goth. þreis, E three)
k > h (Lat. octo – Goth. ahtau, E eight)


Second Consonant Shift (Old High German Consonant Shift)
As a result of the First Consonant Shift the system of consonants of Common Germanic appeared, different from that of Common IE. The next stage of its development was the Second Consonant Shift which occurred only in Southern dialects of German, that is why it has another name Old High German Consonant Shift. Two groups of consonants participated: voiced stops “b, d, g”, and voiceless stops “p, t, k”.
G OHG G OHG
b > p p > ph > pf > ff, f (E sleep – G schlafen)
d > t t > th > tz > zz, z (E water – G Wasser)
g > k k > kh > kh > hh, h (E make – G machen)
Germanic lengthening of Consonants
Germanic consonants (except “r”) are lengthened if they are followed by “j, w, r, l, m, n”, and are preceded by a short vowel. This process is also called “doubling” or “gemination”. After a long vowel the lengthening didn’t occur. E.g. Goth. bidjan (просити) – OE biddan.


Germanic Vowel Shift
In Proto-Germanic there was a strict opposition between short and long vowels. The Germanic Vowel Shift goes as the following: