Gramatyka historyczna 14.12.2012
VERNER’S LAW
I-E *pə’tēr > OE ‘fǣder
Inf. Weor(pb) ‘become’
1,3 sing. Pret. Ind wear(bd)(looks like b and p together)
Rest of preterite wurdon
Passive participle ge-worden
The original verb had a *t: Sanskrit vartami ‘I turn’, Latin uerto
Proto-Germanic voiceless fricatives became voiced when they were in voiced environment and the I-E stress was not on the immediately preceding syllable.
Two conditions: - voiced environment
-fricative must be preceded and followed by the voiced sound
-the stress must be on the following syllable, not on the preceding one
| Pret sg. | Past participle | |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Gmc I-E | ‘wart- | Wr t-“Vn- |
| Grimm’s Law | War(th mark) | Wr (th)-‘Vn |
| R >ur | - | Wur(th)-‘Vn |
| Verner’s Law | - | Wur(th voiced)-‘VN |
| Accent shift | - | ‘Wur(th voiced)-‘VN |
| (th voiced) > d | - | ‘wurd-Vn- [strenhgtening] |
pə’tēr Grimm’s law fe(shwa)’ (th)er Verner’s law fe’(th voiced)er accent ;fa(th voiced)er strengthening ‘faeder
voiced h sound – doesn’t appear in English, but appears in Polish – Bohdan, tychże,
(REMEMBER IT!!) – Voiced velar fricative
VERNER’S LAW continued
IE */t/ >PG */d/> OE /d/
IE */k/ > PG */g/ >OE /g/ IE*/iuun-kó-/ (junak) young in English, jung in German
IE*/p/ >PG */b/> OE/f/ IE*/up-élo/ > OE feel ‘evil’
IE*/s/ >PG */z/> OE/r, O przekreślone)/ IE*/ghosti-s/ (gość) > PG */gastir/ > OE guest
Rhotacism (cames from row-greek letter for R ) can be observed in germanic, but other languages like latin for example.
Flos ‘flower’ gen. floris (<flozis,flo:’sis)
IE*/s/ >PG */z/> OE/r/ IE /aus-/ > OE ēare ‘ear’
IE /bho’so-/ > OE baer ‘bare’
Mostly effects of the Vl became regular under the pressure of analogy
Ceosan ceas curon coren Choose chose chosen
There aren’t many examples of Verner’ law in English. Birth – burden, forleosan (to lose)
– forlorn(abandoned)
GERMANIC to WEST GERMANIC
English is a West Germanic language
Germanic: West(English, German), East (Gothic), North (Scandinavian)
Nominativ sing of some nouns ended in –az in PG
PG-az: NG – r, EG – s, WG – O(przekreślone)
PG *wulfaz: OLC. Ulfr, Gothic wulfs, OHG wolf, OE wulf
In NG the 2nd person singular ending in the present tense came to be used also for the 3p.:
| Olc. | Goth. | OE |
|---|---|---|
| Bindr | Bindis | Blindest (you bind) |
| bindr | Bindi(pb) | Binde(pb) (he/she binds) |
Noth Germanic developed a definite article that was suffixed to nouns
Old. Icelandi ‘ulfr’ wolf, ulfrinn ‘the wolf’
No such feature appears in East or West Germanic.
In EG the z that resulted from VL appears as s, but in North and West Germanic as r. Gothic auso, Old Icelandic eyra, Old English – eare ‘ear’
North and West Gmc. Had vowel alternations (mutation), e.g. in Olc. And OE, the word for man in the acc sing was mann, while the corresponding pl. was menn. No such alternation exists in Goth., (sing. Mannan and pl. mannas.)
2nd consonantal shift/high german shift
PDE Dutch OLG OHG German
*t >[ts] two twee twe zwei zwei
*t >[s] eat eten etan e essen
Water water water wassar wasser
Generally it involves change of voiceless stops.
*p >[pf]
*p>[f]
*p > no change spear –Speer
*k > [h] break brechen