All speech production happens in the mouth or throat –throat: larynx most vowel sounds produced by...

• all speech production happens in the mouth or throat– throat: larynx

• most vowel sounds• produced by the continuous flow of

air over the pharynx, in combination with certain configuration in the mouth

• back to front: i/e/a/o/u• very variable over time and across

regions

– nose: middle ground between vowels and consonants

• nasals = semivowels

Latin and Greek Elements in English

Grimm’s Law

• all speech production happens in the mouth or throat– mouth: palate/teeth/lips

• most consonants• by stopping and then releasing

the flow of air• or narrowing the air stream:

fricatives (f/v/z/sh/th)– spirant (/s/): air through

teeth• or forcing it through the nose

– nasals– liquids– continuants


Grimm’s Law

PHONEMES

VOICED: B D GUNVOICED: P T C

FRICATIVES: F V Z SH TH

NASALS: M NLIQUIDS: L R CONTINUANTS: W Y

LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw

ASPIRATES: BH DH GH GwH

LARYNGEALS: ?

• voiced vs. unvoiced consonants– based on the use of the

vocal chords (or not)• voiced: b/d/g/m/z• unvoiced: p/t/c/n/sh

– classes of consonants• based on where the sound is

formed in the mouth• labial (lips): b/p• dental (teeth and tongue): d/t• palatal (hard palate): g/c

– or velar (velum, “soft palate”)• labiovelar (lips/palate): gw/kw(=qu)


Grimm’s Law

PHONEMES




LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw


LARYNGEALS: ?

• Indo-European had most of these consonants– 18 total– but it was missing: b, z, sh– and it had a full set of aspirates:

bh/dh/gh/gwh– and a mysterious set of

consonants called “laryngeals”

• these are the consonants that all IE daughter languages inherit


Grimm’s Law

PHONEMES




LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw


LARYNGEALS: ?

• the Germanic branch of Indo-European– i.e. the way the IE language evolved as IE

speakers moved into northern Europe• West Germanic: German, English, Dutch• East Germanic: now extinct• North Germanic (Scandinavian): Swedish, Danish,

Norwegian


Grimm’s Law

• West Germanic– developed among Germanic speakers who

lived between the Elbe and Oder Rivers


Grimm’s Law

ElbeRiver

OderRiver


Grimm’s Law

WEST GERMANS

• West Germanic– developed among Germanic speakers who

lived between the Elbe and Oder Rivers– this is the mother tongue of modern German– also English, after the Angles and Saxons

invade and settle England

• East Germanic– developed among German speakers who lived

east of the Oder River


Grimm’s Law

ElbeRiver

OderRiver


Grimm’s Law

EAST GERMANS

• West Germanic– developed among Germanic speakers who lived

between the Elbe and Oder Rivers– this is the mother tongue of modern German– also English, after the Angles and Saxons invade and

settle England

• East Germanic– developed among German speakers who lived east of

the Oder River– this branch of Germanic is now extinct

• Northern Germanic– developed in Denmark, Norway, Sweden; later Iceland


Grimm’s Law

• THE GREAT CONSONANT SHIFT– around 1000-500 BCE, there occurred a significant shift

in consonants that affected all Germanic languages• before Common Germanic had begun to break up

– the change affected only consonants• primarily voiced, unvoiced, and aspirate consonants (some

labiovelars)• NOT vowels or semi-vowels (i.e. nasals, liquids, continuants)

– it is unclear why this change happened• “languages drift”

“It is often assumed that the change was due to contact with a non-Germanic population. The contact could have resulted from the migration of the Germainc tribes or from the penetration of a foreign population into Germanic territory.”

A.C. Baugh, A History of the English Language


Grimm’s Law

• the change began when unvoiced consonants (p/t/k) changed into aspirate consonants (ph/th/ch)– for some reason, our Germanic ancestors decided

to start speaking breathily all the time• but then it was hard to tell what words meant, so the

original aspirate consonants became voiced consonants

• then the voiced consonants became unvoiced consonants, bringing all these consonants full circle


Grimm’s Law UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED

UNVOICED LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > P DENTALS: T > TH (F) >

D > T GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C

• that this had happened was first discovered by Jacob Grimm (1785-1863)– linguist, philologist and folklorist

• as a student, he went about the German countryside, gathering evidence from locals of archaic words

• language in the country often retains archaic constructions lost in the city

– 1822: Grimm published evidence of the Great Consonant Shift

• henceforth, “Grimm’s Law”

– but to convince suspicious country folk to speak with him, he had to tell them he was collecting stories

• when, in fact, he was really listening for odd/archaic words• in the end, he had a fascinating body of traditional narrative which

he published with his brother Wilhelm as “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”


Grimm’s Law

• later, Jacob became interested in folklore in general– especially German mythology

• he also oversaw the creation of a German dictionary and grammar


Grimm’s Law

• now let’s look at Grimm’s Law:– by examining words that at first don’t look like

cognates but, when you understand Grimm’s Law, you can see they are!

• we’ll do this by looking at Latin/Greek words which haven’t undergone the Great Consonant Shift and comparing them to their English cognates

– remember that vowels (and semi-vowels) are unstable and very likely to change — focus only on the consonants

– e.g. Latin pater = English _________?• Latin p = English f• Latin t = English th


Grimm’s Law

father

GEN(US)“race, family”

genus, genesis, genetic

K_N


Grimm’s Law

_____________

KIN

UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > P DENTALS: T > TH (F) >


GEL(I)D(US)“frozen”

gelid, congeal, Jell-O

C _ LD


Grimm’s Law

_____________

COLD



CHOL(OS)“bile”

cholera, melancholy

G _ L(L)


Grimm’s Law

___________________

GALL


D > T GUTTURALS: K/C > K_H/CH (H) > G > K/C

HOST(IS)“stranger”

host, hostile, hostel/hotel

G __ ST


Grimm’s Law

____________________

GUEST



DA(CTYLOS)“digit, finger, extremity”

dactylic, pterodactyl

T__


Grimm’s Law

_____________

TOE



D(UO)“pair, both”

duo, dual, duplicate

T __


Grimm’s Law

_____________

TWO



TH(EMA)“act, accomplish”

theme, synthesis, antithesis

D_


Grimm’s Law

____________________

DO



POL(Y)“many, much”

polygon, polygamy

F_LL


Grimm’s Law

________________

FULLFILL



FER(O)“carry”

fertile, transfer, refer

B__R


Grimm’s Law

___________________

BEAR



FRAG(ILIS)“crush, destroy”

fragile, fragment, fracture

BR__K


Grimm’s Law

__________________

____________

BREAK



PISC(ES)“sea creature”Pisces, piscary

F_SH


Grimm’s Law

FISH

_________________

____________________



DOM(US)“house”

domestic, domicile, dome

T_ME


Grimm’s Law

TAME

_____________

T_M TIM(BER)(BER)



FER(VO)“become hot”

fervid, effervescent

B_R(N)


Grimm’s Law

_________________

BUR(N)



GRAN(US)“grain”

granary, granola

C_R(N)


Grimm’s Law

____________

COR(N)



CORN(U)“antler”

unicorn, cornet

H_R(N)


Grimm’s Law

__________________

HOR(N)



DENT(ES)“molar, incisor”

dentist, dentition, indent

T__TH


Grimm’s Law

______________

TEETH

__________________



AG(E)R“field”

agriculture, agronomy

_CR_


Grimm’s Law

_____________

ACR(E)



TON(ITUS)“loud noise”

intone, astonish,detonate

TH_N


Grimm’s Law

THUN(DER)

__________________

(DER)



FLO(RA)“flower”

florid, florist,flourescent

BL__


Grimm’s Law

BLOOM

___________________

(M)



AP(O)-“away from”

apostate, apostrophe, apostle

_F


Grimm’s Law

_______________

OFOFF



PR(O)-“in place of, in behalf of”progress, proceed, pro

F_R


Grimm’s Law

________________

FOR



All speech production happens in the mouth or throat –throat: larynx most vowel sounds produced by...

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