High German consonant shift
In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development (sound change) that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic dialect continuum in several phases. It probably began between the 3rd and 5th centuries and was almost complete before the earliest written records in Old High German were produced in the 8th century. The shift distinguishes High German from other West Germanic languages, which did not experience the shift. The degree that the shift was experienced within High German distinguishes Central from Upper German dialects, as well as dialects within both Central and Upper German.
General description
[edit]In most accounts, the High German consonant shift consists of two related changes:
- The shift of the Proto-West Germanic voiceless stop consonants /t/, /p/, and /k/ to either fricatives (/s/, /f/, /x/) or affricates (/ts/, /pf/, /kx/) depending on their position in the word (Tenuesverschiebung).[1] No shift takes place after a fricative (/sp/, /xt/, /st/, /ft/, etc. all remain unchanged) or in the combination /tr/ (/pr/ and /kr/ are still affected);[2]
- the shift of the pre-Old High German voiced stop consonants /d/, /b/, and /g/ (Proto-West Germanic /ð/, /β/, and /ɣ/) to the voiceless stop consonants /t/, /p/, and /k/ (Medienverschiebung).[1]
All High German dialects have experienced at least part of the shift of voiceless stops to fricatives/affricates.[3][4] The shift of voiceless stops to fricatives/affricates has traditionally been used to distinguish different German dialects: Upper German dialects experienced the greatest degree of shift, whereas Central German dialects only experienced a partial shift (other West Germanic languages experienced no shift).[5] Only southern dialects experience the shift of voiced to voiceless stops, with the shift of /d/ to /t/ found in Upper German and in some Central German dialects, while the shift of /b/ to /p/ and /g/ to /k/ is only found consistently in (Old) Bavarian.[6][a]
Modern standard German is based mostly on East Central German dialects and thus features many but not all of the shifted forms.[2] In particular, of the Medienverschiebung consonants, only the shift of /d/ to /t/ is found in almost all instances in the modern standard.[8] The shift results in characteristic differences between modern standard German and other Germanic languages, such as:[9]
- German Wasser vs. English water, Dutch water, Swedish vatten (German /s/ vs. other Germanic /t/)
- German Zunge vs. English tongue, Dutch tong, Swedish tunga (German /ts/ vs. other Germanic /t/)
- German Schiff vs. English ship, Dutch schip, Swedish skepp (German /f/ vs. other Germanic /p/)
- German Apfel vs. English apple, Dutch appel, Swedish äpple (German /pf/ vs. other Germanic /p/)
- German gleich vs. English like, Dutch gelijk, Swedish lik (German /x/ vs. other Germanic /k/)
- German Tochter vs. English daughter, Dutch dochter, Swedish dotter (German /t/ vs. other Germanic /d/)
In modern standard German, unshifted /p/ in all positions, unshifted /t/ in most positions (as opposed to /d/ >/t/) , and unshifted /k/ after a vowel only occur after a fricative (e.g. Stein, English stone), in the combination /tr/ (e.g. treu, English true), or in loanwords from Low German and foreign borrowings (e.g. Park from French parc , a doublet of German Pferch, both from Latin parricus).[10]
Another change, the shift of /þ/ (/θ/) to /d/, is sometimes seen as related to the High German consonant shift.[1] However, it also comes to encompass the other continental West Germanic languages.[4] The relation of this change to the second consonant shift, as well as that of another change, that of initial /x/ to /h/, is disputed.[11] Braune and Reiffenstein discount a connection entirely.[12]
Detailed description
[edit]Shifts to voiceless stops
[edit]The result of the shift of the voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ depends on their position in the word. The degree to which the stops are shifted also shows considerable dialectal variation.[1][13] In particular, the shift of /p/ and /k/ in initial position is subject to dialectal variation.[14] While the boundaries of the dialects have shifted since the Old High German period, these differences continue to form the basis for differentiating the different modern German dialects, and, in particular, for the division between Central German dialects, which have fewer shifted consonants, and Upper German dialects, which have more.[15]
- /t/ shifts
- initially, in geminates, and after another consonant, to /t͡s/
- OE tam : OHG zam (English tame, Dutch tam, Low German tamm : German zahm)
- OE catt : OHG kazza (English cat, Dutch kat, Low German Katt : German Katze)
- after a vowel to ⟨ʒʒ⟩, simplifying to ⟨ʒ⟩ at the end of a word,[11] as well as frequently after a long vowel.[16] Beginning in the 13th century, this sound merges with /s/ in most German dialects.[17]
- OE strǣt : OHG strāzza (English street, Dutch straat : German Straße)
- This shift is the same across all High German dialects.[18] However, the Central German Middle Franconian dialects show unshifted final /t/ for neuter pronouns (that, thit, it, wat, allet).[19][20]
- initially, in geminates, and after another consonant, to /t͡s/
- /p/ shifts
- initially, in geminates, and after another consonant, to /p͡f/
- OE æppel : OHG apful, (English apple, Dutch appel, Low German Appel : German Apfel)
- OE scearp : OHG scarpf, scarf (English sharp, Dutch scherp, Low German scharp : German scharf)
- after a vowel to /ff/, simplifying to /f/ at the end of a word,[11] as well as often after a long vowel:[21]
- Old English slǣpan: Old High German slāfan (English sleep, Dutch slapen: German schlafen)
- In Central German Middle and most Rhine Franconian dialects, the shift only takes place after a vowel:[22]
- initially, in geminates, and after another consonant, to /p͡f/
Different outcomes of /p/, according to Salmons 2018 Old Saxon (most) Franconian Rest of OHG pad pad pfad appel appel apful kamp kamp kampf helpan helpan/helpfan helpfan/helfan opan of(f)an of(f)an up ûf ûf
- Additionally, some Middle Franconian dialects retain final /p/ in the preposition up.[20]
- /k/ shifts
- initially, in geminates, and after another consonant to /k͡x/
- OE weorc : OHG werc, werah (English work, Dutch werk, Low German Wark, German Werk : High Alemannic Werch/Wärch)
- OE liccian : OHG leckōn (English lick, Dutch likken, Low German licken, German lecken : High Alemannic lekchen )
- after a vowel to /xx/, simplifying to /x/ at the end of a word,[11] as well as often after a long vowel.[16]
- OE rīce : OHG rīhhi (English rich, Dutch rijk : German Reich)
- All dialects shift /k/ to /xx/ after a vowel; only the Upper German Alemannic and Bavarian shift it in other positions:[22]
- initially, in geminates, and after another consonant to /k͡x/
Different outcomes of /k/, according to Salmons 2018 Old Saxon Central OHG Far southern OHG kind kind chind stark stark starch makon mahhon mahhon ik ih ih
/p/, /t/, and /k/ remained unshifted in all dialects when following the fricative consonants /s/, /f/, and /x/, and /t/ remained unshifted before /r/:[23]
- OE spearwa : OHG sparo (English sparrow, Dutch spreeuw, German Sperling)
- OE mæst : OHG mast (English mast, Dutch mast, Low German Mast, German Mast(baum))
- OE niht : OHG naht (English night, Dutch nacht, Low German Nacht, German Nacht)
- OE trēowe : OHG (gi)triuwi (English true, Dutch (ge)trouw, Low German trü, German treu.[b])
Shifts to voiced consonants
[edit]Prior to the shift of /d/, /b/ and /g/ in some German dialects, the West Germanic fricatives /ð/, /ƀ/ and /ʒ/ had shifted to /d/, /b/, and /g/ in all positions except in the Central German Middle Franconian dialect, where /ƀ/ and /ʒ/ remained.[24][c] Like the shift to the voiceless stops, the shift to the voiced stops varies by dialect and to some degree by position in the word.[1]
- /d/ shifts to /t/
- This shift is found in Upper German and most Central German, but in Rhine Franconian only in geminates and word finally.[26][d]
- OE dōn : OHG tuon (English do, Dutch doen, Low German doon, German tun)
- OE mōdor : OHG muotar (English mother, Dutch moeder, Low German Modder, Mudder, German Mutter)
- OE rēad : OHG rōt (English red, Dutch rood, Low German root, German rot)
- This shift is found in Upper German and most Central German, but in Rhine Franconian only in geminates and word finally.[26][d]
- /b/ shifts to /p/
- This change is found most consistently in Bavarian, where it takes place in all positions.[28] In Alemannic, it is consistently found word finally and word initially, but b often occurs word-internally.[26][28] /bb/ shifts to /pp/ in all dialects except in (Central German) Ripuarian.[25]
- OE biddan : OHG bitten or pitten (English bid, Dutch bieden, Low German bidden, German bitten, Bavarian pitten)
- This change is found most consistently in Bavarian, where it takes place in all positions.[28] In Alemannic, it is consistently found word finally and word initially, but b often occurs word-internally.[26][28] /bb/ shifts to /pp/ in all dialects except in (Central German) Ripuarian.[25]
- /g/ shifts to /k/
- The change is found in Bavarian and Alemannic, most consistently word-initially, and in Bavarian also word-internally and finally.[28] /gg/ shifts to /kk/ in all dialects except in (Central German) Ripuarian.[25]
- Alemannic/Bavarian cot vs. other OHG got (English god)
- Alemannic/Bavarian kip vs. other OHG gib (English give)
- The change is found in Bavarian and Alemannic, most consistently word-initially, and in Bavarian also word-internally and finally.[28] /gg/ shifts to /kk/ in all dialects except in (Central German) Ripuarian.[25]
The shift of all three voiced stops in Upper German likely means that there was no longer any voiced-voiceless distinction in these dialects.[29] While the stops /g/ and /b/ tend to be written /k/ and /p/ in Upper German, by the 9th century spelling in Alemannic reverts to writing /g/ and /b/ except for the geminated stops (/kk/ and /pp/ rather than /gg/ and /bb/), and in the 10th century, Bavarian also begins to write /g/ and /b/ more often.[30] By the Middle High German period, Bavarian only consistently writes /p/ for single /b/ in word-initial position - the state preserved in modern southern Bavarian dialects.[31][25][e] The lack of a return of shifted /t/ (=earlier /d/) to /d/ in those dialects that underwent the shift is likely related to the subsequent shift of /þ/ (=/θ) to /d/ throughout the West Germanic area.[32]
Table of changes
[edit]Type of stop | Position | Proto-Germanic/Pre-Old High German Phoneme | Old High German Phoneme | Old High German word | modern standard German equivalent | Old Saxon equivalent | modern English equivalent |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Voiceless | After vowels | /t/ | /ʒ(ʒ)/[note 1] | eʒʒan | essen | etan | eat |
bîʒan | beißen | bîtan | bite | ||||
waʒ | was | wat | what | ||||
/p/ | /f(f)/ | offan | offen | opan | open | ||
grîfan | greifen | grîpan | gripe | ||||
ûf | auf | ûp | up | ||||
/k/ | /χ(χ)/ | mahhôn | machen | makôn | make | ||
brehhan | brechen | brekan | break | ||||
ih | ich | ik | I (Old English ic) | ||||
Initially, after consonants, and geminated | /t/ | /ts/ | zunga | Zunge | tunga | tongue | |
herza | Herz | herta | heart | ||||
/tt/ | sezzen | setzen | settian | set | |||
/p/ | /pf/ | phad | Pfad | pad | path | ||
helphan | helfen | helpan | help | ||||
/pp/ | aphul | Apfel | appul | apple | |||
/k/ | /kχ/ | Upper German chorn | Korn | korn | corn | ||
Upper German werch | Werk | werk | work | ||||
/kk/ | Upper German wec(c)hen | wecken | wekkian | Old English weccen | |||
Voiced | All positions | /d/[note 2] | /t/ | tohter | Tochter | dohtar | daughter |
wetar | Wetter | wedar | weather | ||||
bintan | binden | bindan | bind | ||||
alt | alt | ald | old | ||||
/dd/[note 2] | /tt/ | bitten | bitten | biddian | bid | ||
/b/[note 2] | /p/ | Upper German peran | (ge)bären | beran | bear | ||
Upper German sipun | sieben | sibun | seven | ||||
Upper German lîp | Leib | lîf | life | ||||
/bb/[note 2] | /pp/ | sippa | Sippe | sibbia | Old English sib | ||
/g/[note 2] | /k/ | Upper German kast | Gast | gast | guest | ||
Upper German stîkan | steigen | stîgan | Old English stîgan | ||||
Upper German tac | Tag | dag | day | ||||
/gg/[note 2] | /kk/ | Upper German likkan | liegen | liggian | lie (Old English licgan) |
- ^ The precise value of this sound is unknown, but it was distinct from the sound written s (Braune & Reiffenstein 2004, pp. 167–168).
- ^ a b c d e f The pre-Old High German phonemes /d/, /b/, /g/ are the results of an earlier shift of West Germanic /ð/ /ƀ/ and /ʒ/ in all positions (Fulk 2018, p. 134).
Chronology
[edit]There is no agreement about the time period in which the High German consonantal shift took place.[33] Its completion is usually dated to just before the earliest attestations of Old High German.[22] The change affects geminate consonants, indicating that West Germanic gemination predated it; this is usually dated to the 5th century CE.[34] Additionally, Latin loanwords adopted into the language prior to the 6th century display the shift, whereas those adopted from the 8th century onward do not.[33] The relative chronology of the different changes remains poorly understood.[35] It is usually argued to have begun with /t/, then moved to /p/, then to /k/.[34]
Geographical distribution
[edit]Dialects and isoglosses of the Rhenish fan (Arranged from north to south: dialects in dark fields, isoglosses in light fields)[36] | ||
Isogloss | North | South |
---|---|---|
North Low Franconian / Low Saxon | ||
Uerdingen line (Uerdingen) | ik | ich |
South Low Franconian | ||
Benrath line (Boundary: Low German — Central German) |
maken | machen |
Ripuarian Franconian (Aachen, Cologne, Bonn) | ||
(State border NRW–RP) (Eifel-Schranke) |
Dorp | Dorf |
Northern Moselle Franconian (Luxembourgish, Trier) | ||
op | auf | |
Southern Moselle Franconian (Koblenz, Saarland) | ||
Bacharach line (Bacharach) (Hunsrück-Schranke) |
dat | das |
Rhenish Franconian (Pfälzisch, Frankfurt) | ||
Speyer line (Speyer) (Boundary: Central German — Upper German) |
Appel | Apfel |
Upper German | ||
1 North Low Franconian, 2 South Low Franconian, 3 Ripuarian Franconian, 4 & 5 Moselle Franconian, 6 Rhenish Franconian |
Roughly, the changes resulting from phase 1 affected Upper and Central German, as did the dental element of phase 2 (t- > z-). The other elements of phase 2 and all of phase 3 impacted only Upper German, while those changes from phase 4 affected the entire German and Dutch-speaking region (the West Germanic dialect continuum). The generally accepted boundary between Central and Low German, the maken–machen line, is sometimes called the Benrath line, as it passes through the Düsseldorf suburb of Benrath, while the main boundary between Central and Upper German, the Appel–Apfel line can be called the Speyer line, as it passes near the town of Speyer, 200 kilometers farther south.
A precise description of the geographical extent of the changes is far more complex. Not only do the individual sound shifts within a phase vary in their distribution (phase 3, for example, partly affects the whole of Upper German and partly only the southernmost dialects within Upper German), but there are even slight variations from word to word in the distribution of the same consonant shift. For example, the ik–ich line lies further north than the maken–machen line in western Germany, coincides with it in central Germany, and lies further south at its eastern end, although both demonstrate the same shift /k/ > /x/.
Rhenish fan
[edit]The subdivision of West Central German into a series of dialects, according to the differing extent of the phase 1 shifts, is particularly pronounced. It is known as the Rhenish fan (German: Rheinischer Fächer, Dutch: Rijnlandse waaier) because on the map of dialect boundaries, the lines form a fan shape.[37] Here, no fewer than eight isoglosses run roughly West to East and partially merge into a simpler system of boundaries in East Central German. The table on the right lists the isoglosses (bold) and the main resulting dialects (italics), arranged from north to south.
Sample texts
[edit]As an example of the effects of the shift one may compare the following texts from the later Middle Ages, on the left a Middle Low German citation from the Sachsenspiegel (1220), which does not show the shift, and on the right the equivalent text from the Middle High German Deutschenspiegel (1274), which shows the shifted consonants; both are standard legal texts of the period.
Sachsenspiegel (II,45,3) | Deutschenspiegel (Landrecht 283) |
---|---|
De man is ok vormunde sines wives, to hant alse se eme getruwet is. Dat wif is ok des mannes notinne to hant alse se in sin bedde trit, na des mannes dode is se ledich van des mannes rechte. |
Der man ist auch vormunt sînes wîbes zehant als si im getriuwet ist. Daz wîp ist auch des mannes genôzinne zehant als si an sîn bette trit nâch des mannes rechte. |
First lines identical: "The man is also guardian of his wife / as soon as she is married to him. / The wife is also the man's companion / as soon as she goes to his bed".
Last line of the Sachsenspiegel is "After the man's death, she is free of the man's rights"; that of the Deutschenspiegel "according to a man's rights". |
See also
[edit]- Glottalic theory
- The Tuscan gorgia, a similar evolution differentiating the Tuscan dialects from Standard Italian.
Notes
[edit]- ^ The shift of voiceless to voiced stops is reversed in many Upper and Central German dialects by a process of lenition in the Early Modern Period.[7]
- ^ The cognates mean "trustworthy","faithful", not "correct","truthful". Although, English true can mean "faithful" as well in some instances, like in a phrase such as "he stayed true to her".
- ^ In many other German dialects, /g/ and /b/ spirantize word internally; however, this appears to be later development, as shown by their partaking in final devoicing as stop consonants rather than fricatives.[25]
- ^ In Middle High German, the series /nt/ mostly changes to /nd/, as found in modern standard German: Middle High German: binden vs. Old High German: bintan.[27]
- ^ In modern dialects, the shift is further disguised in northern Bavarian and Alemannic dialects by inner-German lenition, a shift of /t/, /p/, and /k/ to /d/, /b/, and /g/ that takes place after 1350.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e König 1994, p. 63.
- ^ a b Pickl 2023.
- ^ Salmons 2018, p. 118.
- ^ a b Höder 2015.
- ^ Salmons 2018, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Salmons 2018, pp. 124–125.
- ^ a b Salmons 2018, pp. 261–262.
- ^ Young & Gloning 2004, p. 32.
- ^ Sonderegger 1979, pp. 124–126.
- ^ Young & Gloning 2004, p. 34.
- ^ a b c d Paul, Wiehl & Grosse 1998, p. 114.
- ^ Braune & Reiffenstein 2004, p. 84.
- ^ Salmons 2018, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Iverson & Salmons 2006, p. 50.
- ^ von Polenz 2020, p. 46-48.
- ^ a b Sonderegger 1979, p. 128.
- ^ Paul, Wiehl & Grosse 1998, pp. 162–163.
- ^ Salmons 2018, p. 122.
- ^ Braune & Reiffenstein 2004, p. 85.
- ^ a b Fulk 2018, p. 136.
- ^ Braune & Reiffenstein 2004, p. 126.
- ^ a b c Salmons 2018, p. 123.
- ^ Braune & Reiffenstein 2004, p. 87.
- ^ Fulk 2018, pp. 134, 136.
- ^ a b c d Paul, Wiehl & Grosse 1998, p. 120.
- ^ a b Salmons 2018, p. 125.
- ^ Salmons 2018, p. 201.
- ^ a b c Braune & Reiffenstein 2004, p. 88.
- ^ Fulk 2018, pp. 134–135.
- ^ Fulk 2018, p. 134.
- ^ Ebert et al. 1993, p. 88.
- ^ Young & Gloning 2004, pp. 32–33.
- ^ a b Braune & Reiffenstein 2004, p. 82.
- ^ a b Young & Gloning 2004, p. 35.
- ^ Salmons 2018, p. 124.
- ^ The table of isoglosses is adapted from Rheinischer Fächer on the German Wikipedia.
- ^ Rheinischer Fächer – Karte des Landschaftsverband Rheinland Archived February 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
Sources
[edit]- The sample texts have been copied over from Lautverschiebung on the German Wikipedia.
- Braune, Wilhelm; Reiffenstein, Ingo (2004). Althochdeutsche Grammatik (15 ed.). Niemeyer.
- Ebert, Robert P.; Reichmann, Oskar; Solms, Hans-Joachim; Wegera, Klaus-Peter (1993). Ebert, Robert P.; Reichmann, Oskar; Solms, Hans-Joachim; Wegera, Klaus-Peter (eds.). Frühneuhochdeutsche Grammatik. de Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110920130. ISBN 978-3-484-10672-7.
- Fulk, R.D. (2018). A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages. Studies in Germanic Linguistics. Vol. 3. John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.3. ISBN 978-90-272-6312-4.
- Höder, Steffan (2015) [2013]. "Zweite Lautverschiebung". Wörterbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (WSK) Online.
- Iverson, Gregory K.; Salmons, Joseph C. (2006). "Fundamental Regularities in the Second Consonant Shift". Journal of Germanic Linguistics. 18 (1): 45–70. doi:10.1017/S147054270600002X.
- König, Werner (1994). dtv-Atlas zur deutschen Sprache (10 ed.). Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.
- Paul, Hermann; Wiehl, Peter; Grosse, Siegfried (1998). Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik (24 ed.). Niemeyer.
- Pickl, Simon (2023). "(High) German". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.939. ISBN 978-0-19-938465-5.
- Salmons, Joseph (2018). A History of German: What the Past Reveals about Today's Language (2 ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Sonderegger, Stefan (1979). Grundzüge deutscher Sprachgeschichte. Diachronie des Sprachsystems. Vol. 1. de Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110842005.
- Polenz, Peter von (2020). Geschichte der deutschen Sprache (11 ed.). de Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110485660.
- Waterman, John C. (1991) [1966]. A History of the German Language (Revised edition 1976 ed.). Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc. (by arrangement with University of Washington Press). p. 284. ISBN 0-88133-590-8.
- Young, Christopher; Gloning, Thomas (2004). A History of German Through Texts. Routledge.
- Friedrich Kluge (revised Elmar Seebold), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (The Etymological Dictionary of the German Language), 24th edition, 2002.
- Fausto Cercignani, The Consonants of German: Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979.
- Philippe Marcq & Thérèse Robin, Linguistique historique de l'allemand, Paris, 1997.
- Robert S. P. Beekes, Vergelijkende taalwetenschap, Utrecht, 1990.
- Schwerdt, Judith (2000). Die 2. Lautverschiebung: Wege zu ihrer Erforschung. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. ISBN 3-8253-1018-3.