Phonetic peculiarities (особенности) of the Germanic languages
The First Consonant Shift
On the basis of observations made by Rasmus Rask in 1818, Jakob Grimm codified the
correspondences (соответствия) between certain consonants in the Germanic languages and those in Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek in 1822. Following the genealogical classification of languages, the Germanic languages diverged (расходились с) from the other Indo-European languages as a result of the operation of the First Consonant Shift (“First Germanic Sound Shift”), which is often called Grimm’s Law. The essence (суть) of Grimm’s law is that the quality of some sounds changed in all Germanic languages while the place of their formation remained unchanged.
As proved by Grimm, all the Indo-European stops seem to have gradually changed in Old Germanic. Correspondences between Indo-European and Germanic consonants may be grouped under three categories:
1) The Indo-European voiceless stops [p, t, k] and their aspirated parallels [ph, th, kh] changed to corresponding spirants, i.e. the labial [p] and [ph] changed to the labial [f], the dental [t] or [th] changed to the dental [θ], and the velar [k] or [kh] changed to the velar [h] (originally pronounced as [x] in the Ukrainian хата).
Examples:
p (ph) > f U п’ять, Gk pente, G funf, E five
t (th) > θ U три, L trēs, Gt Trija, E three
k (kh) > h Gk kunos, L canis, G Hund, E hound
2) The Indo-European voiced stops [b, d, g] became voiceless [p, t, k].
Examples:
b > p U слабий, E sleep; U болото, E pool
d > t U два, E two; U вода, E Water
g > k U іго, E yoke
3) The Indo-European aspirated voiced stops [bh, dh, gh] correspond (соответствуют) to Germanic voiced stops without aspiration [b, d, g].
Examples:
bh > b Skt bhrātar, E brother
dh > d Skt vidhavā, E window
gh > g Skt vāhanam, E wagon
Exceptions to Grimm’s law
The Indo-European [p, t, k] remained unchanged after the sound [s]. E.g. U стояти, E stand.
Certain exceptions to Grimm’s law were explained by Karl Verner in 1877.
Compare the Latin words frāter, māter, pater with their Old English equivalents brotor, modor, fader. In accordance with Grimm’s law the sound [t] in all the Latin words should have corresponded to the sound [θ] (written t) in all the Old English words. But only the word brotor showed the regular consonant-shift [t > θ]. In the two other words we find the voiced stop [d].The explanation given by K. Verner is that if an Indo-European voiceless stop was preceded by an unstressed vowel, the voiceless fricative which developed from it in accordance with Grimm’s law became voiced, and later this voiced fricative became a voiced plosive (stop). That is p, t, k > b, d, g. Latin pater has a Germanic correspondence (соответствие) fader because the stress in the word was on the second syllable (слог), and so voiceless plosive was preceded by an unstressed vowel.
