9.The vowels.

1. The basic vowel symbols are a, e, i, o, u. They could be both short and long. The set of vowels in Proto-Germanic can be represented in the following way:

back vowels: ā, ō, ū; front vowels: ī, ē.

Note: According to Zhluktenko, originally there were only four long vowels in PG : æ, ī, ū, ō. Later in West Germanic languages æ > ā. Apart from ē, that developed from PIE ē through æ, in Old Germanic languages there appeared one more ē that resulted from diphthong ai in unstressed syllable (Goth. haihait).

In tracing vowel changes in Old Germanic languages we have to distinguish between stressed and unstressed syllables, since these give different results.

There was a strict difference between short and long vowels. There were 8 monophthongs and 3 diphthongs in PG.

PG Vowels

Front Back

Short i, e a, u

Long i, e o, u

Diphthongs: /ai/, /eu/, /au/.

IE short /a/ and /o/ merged in PG short /a/.

IE short /i/, /e/, /u/ could correspond to PG /e/, /i/, /o/.

IE long vowels were unchanged. /i/>/i/, /u/>/u/. IE long /a/ and /o/ merged in PG long /o/.

In Early PG there were 4 long vowels: /i/, /u/, /o/ /e/. Then appeared /a/.

High підняття

i u

Front e Mid o Back

a

Low

10. Umlaut– is a case of regressive assimilation, when the vowel is changed under the influence of the following vowel.

1) i-umlaut (Front Mutation)

2) u-umlaut (Back Mutation)

I-Umlaut /a/, /o/, /u/ change into /e/, if the following vowel is /i/, /i/ or /j/.

Later i, i and j disappeared or changed to e. (dailjan – delan)

I-Umlaut in OE took place in prewritten period on the territory of the British Isles.

*a> æ> e

*a> æ

*o> e

*o> oe> e

*u> y:

*u> y

I-Umlaut in OHG

In OHG Mutation took place starting from the 8^th century.

a> a(e)

a > æ

o> ö

o> oe

u> ü

U-Umlaut (Back Mutation)

OE: 7-8 centuries

The short frot vowels æ, e, I were diphthongized when the back vowels u, o, a were present in the following syllable.

i> io OE sifon> siofon

e> eo OE efor> eofor

æ> ea OE saro> searu

This process differs from I-Umlaut in 3 respects:

• it effected almost exclusively short vowels

• it effected only front vowels

• its results are less uniform

Palatal mutation before ‘h’

e> eo> ie> i

OE cneht> cneoht> cnieht> cniht

11. Inflectional system of pg.

Simplification of the inflectional system

It is often asserted that Germanic languages have a highly reduced system of inflections as compared with Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit. Although this is true to some extent, it is probably due more to the late time of attestation of Germanic than to any inherent "simplicity" of the Germanic languages. It is in fact debatable whether Germanic inflections are reduced at all. Other Indo-European languages attested much earlier than the Germanic languages, such as Hittite, also have a reduced inventory of noun cases. Germanic and Hittite might have lost them, or maybe they never shared in their acquisition.

Inflections were certainly the principal formbuilding means used:

• they were found in all parts of speech that could change their forms

• they were usually used alone, but could also occur in combinations with other means

In PG there are 5 parts of speech which can be declined – noun, adjective, pronoun, numeral, verb.

Nounhad such categories:

• gender (masc, fem, neut)

• number (singular, plural)

• case (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, instrumental)

• declension (strong, weak, minor, root)

Verbhad such categories:

• voice (active, passive)

• mood: indicative (denotes a statement), imperative (commands, was used only in present of active voice), subjunctive (2 functions – grammatical & semantic)

• tense (present, preterite)

• number (singular, plural, dual)

• person (1, 2, 3)

Adjective

• declension (weak, strong)

• degrees of comparison (positive, comparative, superlative)

Pronoun

• number (sg, pl, dual)

• person (only personal pronouns)

• case (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental)

• gender (only in demonstrative pronouns)

Numeralsfrom 1 to 4 had case.