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OTIYa exam’s answers:

1. Germanic languages, their classification. The history of the Germanic group begins with the appearance of what is known as the Proto-Germanic language. As the Indo-Europeans extended over a large territory, the ancient Germans or Teutons moved further north than other tribes and settled on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in the region of the Elbe. PG is an entirely pre-historical language: it was never recorded in written form. The first mention of Germanic tribes was made by Pitheas, a Greek historian and geographer of the 4th. C.B.C. in COMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC WAR. In the 1st c. A.D. Pliny the Elder, a prominent Roman scientist and writer, in NATURAL HISRORY made a classified list of Germanic tribes grouping them under six headings. Tacitus – the Roman historian – compiled a detailed description of the life and customs of the ancient Teutons. According to this division PG split into three branches: East Germanic (Vindili in Pliny’s classification), North Germanic (Hillevonies) and West Germanic (which embraces Ingveones, Istevones and Herminones), East Germanic. The East Germanic subgroup was formed by the tribes who returned from Scandinavia at the beginning of our era. The most numerous and powerful of them were Goths. Their western branch, the Visigote, invaded Roman territory. Linguistically the Western Goths were soon absorbed by the native population, the Romanised Celts. The Eastern Goths, Ostrogote, consolidated into a powerful tribal alliance in the lower basin of the Dniester. They set up a kingdom in Northern Italy. The Gothic language, now dead, has been preserved in written records of the 4th – 6th century. The Goths were the first of the Teutons to become Christian. In the 4th c. Ulfilas, a West Gothic bishop, made a translation of the Gospels from Greek into Gothic using a modified form of the Greek alphabet. It is written on red parchment with silver and golden letters and is known as the SILVER CODEX. It is one of the earliest texts in thelanguages of the Germanic group. North Germanic. The North Germanic tribes lived on the southern coast of the Scandinavian peninsula and in Northern Denmark. They didn’t take part in the migrations and were relatively isolated. The speech of the North Germanic tribes showed little dialectal variation until the 9th c. and called Old Norse or Old Scandinavian. It has come down to us in runic inscriptions. RI were carved on objects made of hard material in an original Germanic alphabet known as the runic alphabet or the runes. The principal linguistic differentiation in Scandinavia corresponded to the political division into Sweden, Denmark and Norway.  Classification. Note that divisions between and among subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form continuous clines, with adjacent varieties being mutually intelligible and more separated ones not.

2.Common linguistic features of Germanic languages: vowels and consonants.

Phonetics.  The peculiar Germanic system of word accentuation. In IE there existed two ways og accntuation: musical pitch and force stress. The position of the stress was free and movable. Both these properties changed in PG. Force stress became the only type of stress used. In early PG the stress was movable, in late PG its position in the word stabilised The stress was now fixed on the first syllable and could not move in form- or word-building. This played an important role in the development of Germanic languages: in the development of stressed and unstressed vowels, in the development of unstressed grammatical endings and suffixes. Vowels. Vowels underwent qualitattive, quantitative, positional and spontaneous changes. Differentiation of long and short vowels is regarded as an important characteristic of the Germanic group. 

Independent Vowel Changes in Proto-Germanic

Change illustrated		Examples
PIE	PG	Non-Germanic	Germanic
			Old	Modern
o	a	L nox, Ir nochd, Rночь R могу; мочь	Gt nahts, O Icel nátt,OHG naht Gt magan, OE maзan, mæз O Icel mόðir, OE mōdor Gt broþar, O Icel brόðir,OE brōðor	Sw natt, G Nacht Sw må, NE may Sw moder, NE mother  Sw broder, NE brother
a:	o:	L mater, R мать O Ind bhrāta, L frater,R брат

Mutation of Vowels in Late PG

Change illustrated			Examples
			Non-Germanic	Germanic
				Old	Modern
РIE  e u	{ {	G i e u o	L ventus, Rветер L edit, R ест  L edere, Rесть Lith sunus, Rсын Celt hurman	Gt winds, 0 Icel vindr, OEwind  OHG izit, OEiteþ, O Icel eta, OEetan O Icel sunr,OE sunu  O Icel, OEhorn	Sw vind, NE wind G iβt, NE eats,  G essen, NE eat Sw son, NE son NE horn, Swhorn

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2) Consonants The first consonant shift, or Grimm’s law. 

Consonant Shift in Proto-Germanic (Grimm's Law)

Correspondence illustra-ted		Examples
		Non-Germanic	Germanic
			Old	Modern
PIE	PG
ACT I
P		L pes, pedis	Gt fōtus, O Icel fótr,OE fōt	Sw fot, NE foot  G Fuβ
p	f	R пена	OE fām	G Feim, NE foam
		L piscis, Rпескарь	Gt fisks, OE fisc	G Fisch, NE fish
t	θ	L tres, R три	Gt þreis, O Icel þrir,OE þrēo	Sw tre, G drei,NE three
		L tu, Fr tu, Rты	Gt þu, OE þū	G Sw du, NEthou
k	x	L cor, cordis,Fr coeur, Rсердце	Gt hairto, O Icelhjarta, OE heort	G Herz, NE heart
		L canis Rколода	Gt hunds, OE hundOE holt	G Hund, NEhound G Holz, NE holt
ACT II
b	p	Lith balà, Rболото Llabare, Rслабый	OHG pfuol, OE pōlGt slepan, OEslǽpan	G Pfuhl, NE pool  G schlafen, NE sleep
d	t	L decem, Frdix,	^ Gt taíhun, O Iceltíu, OE tien	Sw tio, G zehn,
		R десять		NE ten
		Fr deux, Rдва	OE twā	NE two
		L edere, R еда	Gt itan, OE etan	Sw äta, NE eat
		L vidēre, Rве­дать, видеть	OE witan	G wissen, NE wit
g	k	L genu, Frgenou	OE cnēo, Gt kniu	NE knee, G Knie
		L iugum, Rиго	Gt juk, O Icel ok, OE зеос	Sw ok, NE yoke
ACT III
bhl	v	O Ind bhrāta, L frater, Rбрат	Gt broþar, O Icelbróðir, OE brōþor	Sw broder, G Bruder, NEbrother
		L ferre,R.беру  Fr future, Rбыть	Gt baíran, OE be-ran OHG bin, bíst, OEbēon	G gebären, NEbear G bin, bist, NE be
dh	ð	O Ind rudhira,R рдеть	^ Gt rauþs, O Icel rauðr, OE rēad	G rot, Sw röd, NEred
		^ O Indmádhyas,  L medius  R делать	Gt midjis [ð], OEmiddle Gt gadeþs, OEdǽd, dōn	G Mittel, NE middle  NE deed, do
gh	γ	L hostis, Rгость  L (leg-) lectus, R залегать	Gt gasts, O Icelgestr, OE giest  Gt ligan [γ], O Icelliggja, OE liсзаn	Sw gäst, G Gast, NE guest  G liegen, NE lie
		O Ind vaha,.Lvia, R везти	Gt wiga [γ], О Iсеlvegr, OE we3	Sw väg, G Weg, NE way
1-It is assumed that PIE contained sets of aspirated plosives opposed to pure non-aspirated plosives: [bh, dh, gb] vs [b, d, g] as well as [ph, th, kh] vs [p, t, k]. The voiceless [ph, th, kh] are not included in the shift, since they behaved like the corresponding pure plosives [p, t, k] and probably were not distinguished in West IE.

By the terms of Grimm’s law voiceless plosives developed in PG into voiceless fricatives (ACT I), IE voiced plosives were shifted to voiceless plosives (ACT II), and IE voiced aspirated plosives were reflected either as voiced fricatives or as pure voiced plosives (ACT III). Cases which contradict the Grimm’s law. Voicing of fricatives in PG, or K. Verner’s law. K.Verner’s law: all the Early PG voiceless fricatives [f, θ, x] which arose under Grimm’s law and also [s] inherited from PIE, became voiced between vowels if the preceding vowel was unstressed, in the absence of these conditions they remained voiceless.