Lecture II. Chief Characteristics of the Germanic Languages

I. The Germanic branch in the Indo-European family of languages

II. Phonology

2.1. Word stress

2.2. Ablaut and its types

2.3. The First Consonant Shift or Grimm’s Law

2.4. Verner’s Law

III. Basic grammatical features of the Germanic languages

3.1. Synthetic and Analytic Languages

3.2. The Word Structure

3.3. The Germanic Noun

3.4. The Germanic Adjective

3.5. The Germanic Verb

1. Parent/proto-language

2. Germanic languages:

· East – Gothic, Burgundian, Vandalic – all extinct

· North – Swedish, Danish; Norwegian, Icelandic, Faeroese;

· West –Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans; German, Yiddish; Frisian, English

3. Common (or Proto-) Germanic

4. Parent Language (PIE)

Dialect I Dialect II Dialect III Dialect N

L-ge I L-ge II L-ge III L-ge N

(Proto Slavic) (Old Norse) (Proto Germanic) (Proto N)

A family of languages (IE)

5. Accent by pitch (musical pitch)

6. Accent by stress (force stress/expiratory/dynamic)

7. Gth ʹbindan (вязать)

OE ʹbycʒan (to buy)

OIcel ʹleggja /ŋg/ (класть)

OHG ʹhaltan (держать)

8. OE stān-as ME stǭn-es NE ston-es

OE daʒas ME daies /aı/ NE days

9. Ablaut = gradation = a spontaneous, positionally independent alternation of vowels

10. Semitic (f.ex. Arabic)

11. Qualitative vs. Quantitative Ablaut

12. IE qualitative ablaut:

/e/ – /o/ – /ø/

13. Greek p é lomai (вращаюсь)

p ó los (ось)

e pl omen (вращал)

/е – о – ø/ – p e l, p o l, pl

Lat l é gō (говорю) – l ó gos (речь)

Rus подб о р – б е ру – бр ал

/е – о – ø/ – б е р, б о р, бр

14. Quantitative Ablaut = change in length:

15. Greek pat ḗ r pát ĕ r pa tr ós

Nom /ē/ Voc /ĕ/ Gen /ø/

lengthened normal reduced

stage/grade

16. Lat s e deo (сижу) – s ē de (сел)

17. IE /ĕ/ à PG /e/ or /ı/

IE /o/ à PG /a/

18. Rus е да à OS e tan

Rus в е тер à OFr w i nd, Gth w i nds

Lat n o x, Rus н о чь à Gth n a hts

Lat h o stis (guest) à Gth g a sts

19. PIE /е – о – ø/

PG /ı/e – a – ø/

20. Other ablaut series in PG:

ǎ – ō (Class VI strong verbs)

ĕ – ē (Gth stilan – stēlum)

ē – ō (Gth lētan – laílōt – оставлять – оставил)

21. OIcel b e ra (рожать) – b a rn (дитя)

22. OE b i ndan (связывать) – b a nd (тесьма)

23. Gth r ei san – r ai s – r i sum – r i sans

i+i a+i i+ø i+ø

24. /i:/=/ı/+/ı/

25. IE /ŏ – ō/ à Germ /ă – ō/

quantitative à qualitative-quantitative

26. Gth f a ran – f ō r – f ō rum – f a rans

27. Word-building:

OE belīfan à lāf

(оставаться à остаток, n.f.ō)

forlēōsan à lēās

(терять à лишенный, adj.)

28. Form-building:

OE b a can – b ō c – b ō con – b a cen

29. Grimm’s Law =

the First Consonant Shift =

первое передвижение согласных

30. Sanskrit = Old Indian

31. Rasmus Rask (1818)

32. Lat sca b ō – Gth ska p jan

33. Jacob Grimm (1822)

34. Historical-comparative method

35. Philological activities of:

Sir William Jones (1746 – 1794)

Franz Bopp (1791 – 1867)

Rasmus Rask (1787 – 1832)

Jacob Grimm (1785 – 1863)

A.Kh. Vostokov (1781 – 1864)

36. Act I (3^rd–1^st cc. BC)

p à f

Rus п олный – Gth f ulls

Lat p iscis, Sp p escado – NE f ish

Greek p lōtós – Gth f lodus, Norw f lom

t à þ /Ө/

Sanskr t rayas, Lat t rēs, Fr t rios, Rus т ри – Gth þ reis (three)

Lat t ū, Rus т ы – OE þ ū (NE th ou)

k à h

Lat c or, c ordis, Fr c oeur – OE h eorte, Norw h jèrte

Lat c ornu – OE h orn

37. Act II (3^rd–1^st cc. BC)

b à p

Lat d ubus – Gth d iups, Norw d yp (deep) OSlav б лато – OE p ōl

d à t

Greek é d ein, Sanskr á d mi (я ем), Lat e d ere, Rus е д им – Gth i t an (eat)

Lat d uo, Rus д ва, Sanskr d wau – Gth t wai, OE t wā

g à k

Lat g nosco – OE c an, c nawan

Lat e g o – OE i c, Gth i k

38. Act III (10^th c. BC)

bh à b

Sanskr bh rātar, Lat f rāter, Italian f ratello, Rus б рат, Greek ph rātor – Gth b rōþar, Norw b ror (brother)

dh à d

Sanskr má dh u, Greek mé th u, Rus мё д – OE me d u

Sanskr dh a – OE d ōn

* gh à g