Phonological stages from Proto-Indo-European to end of Proto-Germanic
editThe following changes are known or presumed to have occurred in the history of Proto-Germanic in the wider sense from the end of Proto-Indo-European up to the point that Proto-Germanic began to break into mutually unintelligible dialects.
Pre-Proto-Germanic (Pre-PGmc)
editThis stage began with the separation of a distinct speech, perhaps while it was still forming part of the Proto-Indo-European dialect continuum. It contained many innovations that were shared with other Indo-European branches to various degrees, probably through areal contacts, and mutual intelligibility with other dialects would have remained for some time. It was nevertheless on its own path, whether dialect or language.
Allophonic colouring of /e/ adjacent to laryngeal consonants:[1][2]
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Merging of PIE "palatovelar" and "velar" plosives ("centumization"):[3]
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Epenthesis of /u/ before the syllabic sonorants:[4][5][6][a]
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| An epenthetic /s/ was inserted already in PIE after dental consonants when they were followed by a suffix beginning with a dental.[8][9] |
| Geminate consonants are shortened after a consonant or a long vowel — *káyd-tis 'act of calling' (pronounced *káydstis) > *káyssis > *káysis > *haisiz 'command'.[10] This change may have occurred after Grimm's or Verner's laws.[11] |
| Word-final long vowels are lengthened to "overlong" vowels — *séh₁mō 'seeds' > *séh₁mô > *sēmô[12] |
Loss of laryngeals, phonemicising the allophones of /e/:
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| Cowgill's law: /h₃/ (and possibly /h₂/) is strengthened to /g/ between a sonorant and /w/ — *n̥h₃mé 'us two' > *n̥h₃wé > *ungwé > *unk[19] |
| Vocalisation of remaining laryngeals: /H/ > /ə/ — *ph₂tḗr 'father' > *pətḗr > *fadēr; *sámh₂dʰos 'sand' > *sámədʰos > *samdaz[20][21][a] |
| Velars are labialised by following /w/: *éḱwos 'horse' > *ékwos > *ékʷos > *ehwaz[22] |
Labiovelars are delabialised next to /u/ or before /t/:[23][24]
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Osthoff's law may have applied to Germanic:[25][26]
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Early Proto-Germanic
editThis stage began its evolution as a dialect of Proto-Indo-European that had lost its laryngeals and had five long and six short vowels as well as one or two overlong vowels. The consonant system was still that of PIE minus palatovelars and laryngeals, but the loss of syllabic resonants already made the language markedly different from PIE proper. Mutual intelligibility might have still existed with other descendants of PIE, but it would have been strained, and the period marked the definitive break of Germanic from the other Indo-European languages and the beginning of Germanic proper, containing most of the sound changes that are now held to define this branch distinctively. This stage contained various consonant and vowel shifts, the loss of the contrastive accent inherited from PIE for a uniform accent on the first syllable of the word root, and the beginnings of the reduction of the resulting unstressed syllables.
Dybo's law :Long vowels before resonants were shortened before a stressed syllable.[6][b]
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Loss of word-final non-high short vowels: /e/, /a/, /o/ — *wóyde '(s)he knows' > *wóyd > *wait[28]
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Grimm's law: Chain shift of the three series of plosives. Voiced plosives had already been devoiced before a voiceless obstruent prior to this stage.
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| The controversial Kluge's law would have taken place around this time: |
Verner's law: voiceless fricatives are voiced, allophonically at first, when they are preceded by an unaccented vowel:[38][11][39]
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| All words become stressed on their first syllable. The PIE contrastive accent is lost, phonemicising the voicing distinction created by Verner's law.[41] |
| The fate of word-initial */gʷ/ is unknown. Kroonen says in this context that */gʷ/ became */w/ — *gʷʰórmos 'warm' > *gʷórmos > *wórmos > *warmaz 'warm',[37] while Ringe and Stiles say that it became */b/ (gʷʰedyeti >*bidiþi) word-initially. [42][43] |
| Unstressed /owo/ > */oː/ — *-owos 'thematic first du.' > *-ōz[44] |
| Unstressed /ew/ > */ow/ before a consonant or word-finally — *-ews 'u-stem gen. sg.' > *-owz > *-auz[45] |
Unstressed */e/ > */i/ except before */r/ — *-éteh₂ 'abstract noun suffix' > *-eþā > *-iþā > *-iþō[46]
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Unstressed /ji/ > /i/ — *légʰyeti '(s)he is lying down' ~ *légʰyonti 'they are lying down' > *legyidi ~ *legyondi > *legidi ~ *legyondi > *ligiþi ~ *ligjanþi (with -þ- by analogy)[49]
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Merging of non-high back vowels:
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Late Proto-Germanic
editBy this stage, Germanic had emerged as a distinctive branch and had undergone many of the sound changes that would make its later descendants recognisable as Germanic languages. It had shifted its consonant inventory from a system that was rich in plosives to one containing primarily fricatives, had lost the PIE mobile pitch accent for a predictable stress accent, and had merged two of its vowels. The stress accent had already begun to cause the erosion of unstressed syllables, which would continue in its descendants. The final stage of the language included the remaining development until the breakup into dialects and, most notably, featured the development of nasal vowels and the start of umlaut, another characteristic Germanic feature.
| Word-final /m/ > /n/ — *tóm 'that, acc. masc.' > *þam > *þan 'then'; *-om 'a-stem acc. sg.' > *-am > *-an > *-ą[53] |
| /m/ > /n/ before dental consonants — *ḱm̥tóm 'hundred' > *humdan > *hundan > *hundą; *déḱm̥d 'ten' > *tehumt > *tehunt > *tehun[54] |
| Word-final /n/ is lost after unstressed syllables, and the preceding vowel is nasalised — *-om 'a-stem acc. sg.' > *-am > *-an > *-ą; *-eh₂m > *-ān > *-ą̄ > *-ǭ; *-oHom 'genitive plural' > *-ân > *-ą̂ > *-ǫ̂[55] |
| Nasal /ẽː/ is lowered to /ɑ̃ː/ — *dʰédʰeh₁m 'I was putting' > *dedēn > *dedę̄ > *dedą̄ > *dedǭ[56] |
Elimination of /ə/:
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Assimilation of sonorants:
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| Loss of word-final /t/ after unstressed syllables — *déḱm̥d 'ten' > *tehunt > *tehun; *bʰéroyd '(s)he would carry, subj.' > *berayt > *berai; *mélid ~ *mélit- 'honey' > *melit ~ *melid- > *meli ~ *melid- > *mili ~ *milid-[66] |
*/ɣʷ/ > */w/ — *snóygʷʰos 'snow' > *snaygʷaz > *snaiwaz; *kʷekʷléh₂ 'wheels (collective)' > *hʷegʷlā > *hʷewlā > *hweulō[67]
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Long a is raised:
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Early i-mutation: /e/ > /i/ when followed by /i/ or /j/ in the same or next syllable — *bʰéreti '(s)he is carrying' > *beridi > *biridi; *médʰyos 'middle' > *medyaz > *midjaz; *néwios 'new' > *newyaz > *niwjaz
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/e/ > /i/ when followed by a syllable-final nasal — *en 'in' > *in; *séngʷʰeti '(s)he chants' > *sengʷidi > *singwidi '(s)he sings' [69][70]
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/j/ is lost between vowels except after /i/ (but it is lost after syllabic /u/). The two vowels that come to stand in hiatus then contract to long vowels or diphthongs — *-oyh₁m̥ 'thematic optative 1sg sg.' > *-oyum > *-ayų > *-aų; *h₂eyeri 'in the morning' > *ayiri > *airi 'early'[72]
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| /n/ is lost before /x/, causing compensatory lengthening and nasalisation of the preceding vowel — *ḱónketi '(s)he hangs' > *hanhidi (phonetically *[ˈxɑ̃ːxiði])[74] |
Grammatical development
editThe evolution of Proto-Germanic grammar is complex, however, the following changes applied to all grammatical categories:
Verbs
edit- The functions of third person dual forms were taken over by the third person plural forms. [77]
- Stative perfects are reinterpreted as "resultative"[78] (Preterite-presents, however, continue the old stative meaning.)[79] and as a result of the reinterpretation, it and the aorist indicative came into conflict, which led to the latter being lost.[80]
- Almost all Proto-Indo-European imperfects were lost. [81]
- The subjunctive mood merged into the indicative.[82]
Nominals
edit- The Ablative and locative cases merged in the dative cases.[83]
- Ablaut in the roots of nominals was leveled by analogy.[84]
Nouns
editPronouns
editAdjectives
edit- Adjectives gained a second declension called "weak" declension which was identical to an- and ōn-stems. [85]
Other
editNotes
edit- ^ a b Kroonen believes that in situations where RH is word initial, the laryngeal, not the resonant, is syllabic.[7]
- ^ Kroonen believes that there are situations where it is difficult to tell where which sequence a specific *a was shortened from, because it could come from one of three separate situations.[27]
References
edit- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 15.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, pp. xvii–xviii, xxii.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 107–110.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 100–101.
- ^ Stiles 2017, pp. 899–900.
- ^ a b Kroonen 2013, p. xx.
- ^ Kroonen 2013 "An important issue concerns roots with *a < *H̥. that start with a resonant. It is widely assumed that the resonant rather than the laryngeal is vocalized in such roots (cf. Schaffner 2001; Müller 2007), but this is in disagreement with the facts (cf. Beekes 1988)"
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 20.
- ^ a b Stiles 2017, p. 896.
- ^ a b Ringe 2017, p. 106.
- ^ a b c d e f Kroonen & Hansen 2022, p. 153.
- ^ a b Ringe 2017, p. 92-93.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 88.
- ^ Stiles 2017, p. 898.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 88-90.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 90.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 90-91.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 91-93.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 86-88.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 98.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, pp. xvii–xviii.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 110–111.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 111–113.
- ^ Stiles 2017, p. 895.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 94-96.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, pp. xxiv–xxvi.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, p. xvii "As a consequence of [Dybo's] law (for which see §2.1.2), the vocalization of *H to *a is technically unfalsifiable before resonants, because the *a can always have developed out of unstressed *eh₂/₃, *oH or *ō in this position. Nonetheless, the vocalization *H before resonants can be ascertained on the basis of formations in which it is morphologically unlikely that the root had a full grade, such as, for instance, the PIE no-participles."
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 141.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 141–142.
- ^ a b Ringe 2017, p. 142.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 114-116.
- ^ a b c d Stiles 2017, p. 890.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 117.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 116-117.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 118–120.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 120–122.
- ^ a b Kroonen 2013, pp. xxvii–xxix.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 122–124.
- ^ Stiles 2017, pp. 890–891.
- ^ a b c d e Ringe 2017, p. 166.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 126.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 127-128: "In word initial position PIE gʷʰ became [Proto-Germanic] */b/, except where it had been delabialized by a following */u/"
- ^ Stiles 2017, p. 895 "
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 161-162.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 147–149.
- ^ a b c d Kroonen 2013, p. xxii. Cite error: The named reference "FOOTNOTEKroonen2013xxii" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 147-14.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 154–155.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 156.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, pp. xvii–xix.
- ^ a b c Ringe 2017, p. 170-171.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 104.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 165-166.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 104-106.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 172-173.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 163–164.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 164-165.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, pp. xxxvii–xxxviii.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 165.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, p. xxxv.
- ^ a b Aikio, Ante (2006). "On Germanic-Saami contacts and Saami prehistory". Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja. 91: 9–55.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, pp. xxxvi–xxxvii.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, p. xxxvii.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 167-168.
- ^ a b Ringe 2017, p. 129.
- ^ a b Ringe 2017, p. 171.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 173–174.
- ^ Kroonen 2013, p. xix.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 174.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 159-161.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 160.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 174-175.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 196-197.
- ^ Harðarson 2017, p. 913.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 196.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 179-181.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 177-178.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 181–182.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 182.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 185–186.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 196–7.
- ^ Ringe 2017, pp. 197–198.
- ^ Ringe 2017, p. 194-196.
Sources
edit- Ringe, Donald A. (2006). From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. Linguistic history of English, v. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-955229-0.
- Kroonen, Guus (2013). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, 11. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-18340-7.
- Kroonen, Guus; Hansen, Bjarne (2022). "Germanic". In Olander, Thomas (ed.). The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108758666. ISBN 978-1-108-49979-8. S2CID 161016819.
- Ringe, Donald A. (2017). From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. Linguistic history of English, v. 1 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-955229-0.
- Fulk, R. D. (2018-09-15). A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages. Studies in Germanic Linguistics. Vol. 3. John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.3. ISBN 978-90-272-6313-1. S2CID 165765984.
- Stiles, Patrick (2017). "The phonology of Germanic". In Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (eds.). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-054243-1.
- Salmons, Joseph (2017). "The evolution of Germanic". In Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (eds.). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-054243-1.
- Aikio, Ante (2006). "On Germanic-Saami contacts and Saami prehistory". Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja. 2006 (91). doi:10.33340/susa.81944. ISSN 1798-2987.
- Harðarson, Jón (2017). "The morphology of Germanic". In Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (eds.). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-054243-1.
- Harbert, Wayne (2006-12-21). The Germanic Languages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80825-5.