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1.1.2. The Second Consonant Shift

While the First Consonant shift led to the formation of the specific Germanic consonant system differentiating it from Proto-Indo-European one, the Second Consonant shift took place later (between the 5th and 9th cent.) in Old High German and is usually termed the High German Shift.

English and the Low German languages - Dutch, Flemish, and Plattdeutsch differ from Modern Standard German partly because Standard German has undergone the Second Consonant shift. Thus, English, for example, preserves the older Common Germanic sounds which were changed in High German.

The Second Consonant Shift affected only Proto-Germanic voiceless stops and split Germanic into two sets of dialects, Low German in the north and High German in the south. The High German consonant shift altered a number of consonants in the Southern German dialects, and thus also in modern Standard German, Yiddish and Luxemburgish, and so explains why many German words have different consonants from the obviously related words in English and Dutch.

The High German consonant shift took place as a series of waves of changes which appear in the southernmost dialects and spread northwards.

The Second Consonant shift is represented by the core group of nine consonant modifications which took place in 3 basic successive phases:

1) The 1st phase (approx. 4th cent.): PGmc voiceless plosives p, t, k when occurring between vowels, between vowel and consonant or when final after vowel are shifted and correspond to German double spirants ff, zz, hh (e.g. Engl. ship → Germ. Schiff).

There were also some futher changes. Thus,

  • PGmc p → Germ. ff or final f (cf. OE slǣpan vs OHG slāfan (Engl. sleep, Dutch slapen vs Germ. schlafen);

  • PGmc t → Germ zz (later German ss/ß ) or final z (s) (cf. OE strǣt vs OHG strāzza (Engl. street, Dutch straat vs Germ. Straße);

  • PGmc k → Germ hh (later German ch) (OE rīce vs OHG rīhhi (Engl. rich, Dutch rijk vs Germ. reich).

The first phase affected the whole of the High German area

2) In the 2nd phase (approx. 8th cent.) the same sounds p, t, k became affricates in three environments: in word-initial position; when geminated; and after sonorants and nasal consonants l, r, m or n. Thus, the correspondences are the following:

  • PGmc p → Germ. pf (also written ph in OHG) (cf. OE æppel vs OHG aphul (Engl. apple, Dutch appel, Low Germ. Appel vs Germ. Apfel);

  • PGmc t → Germ. tz (also written z) (cf. OE catt vs OHG kazza (Engl. cat, Dutch kat, Low Germ. Katt vs Germ. Katze);

  • PGmc k → Germ. kch (cf. OE liccian vs OHG lecchōn).

The shift did not take place where the stop was preceded by a fricative, i.e. in the combinations sp, st, sk, ft, ht and t also remained unshifted in the cluster tr (cf. OE spearwa vs OHG sparo (Engl. sparrow, Dutch spreeuw, Germ. Sperling; OE niht vs OHG naht (Engl. night, Dutch nacht, Germ. Nacht).

These affricates (especially pf) have simplified into fricatives in some dialects. In certain positions in which in OHG we find pf it was simpified to f, especially when occurring after r and l (e.g. Germ. werfen < OHG werpfan, helfen < OHG helpfan).

The shift of k > kx was geographically restricted to the southernmost Upper German dialects only.

3) In the 3rd phase (with the most limited geographical range, 8-9th cent.) Proto-Germanic voiced stops become voiceless ones in German: PGmc b, d, g → Germ. p, t, k. Of these, only the dental shift d→t finds its way into standard German (e.g. OE dōn vs OHG tuon: Engl. do, Dutch doen vs Germ. tun; OE rēad vs OHG rōt: Engl. red, Dutch rood vs Germ. rot).

Note, that in those words in which an Indo-European voiceless stop became voiced as a result of Verner's Law, phase three of the High German shift returns this to its original value (*t→d→t): PIE *mehter-→ early Proto-Germanic *mōθar- (*t→*θ by the First Germanic Consonant Shift) → late Proto-Germanic *mōðar- (*θ →*ð by Verner's Law) → Proto-West-Germanic *mōdar (*ð→*d by a standard West Germanic sound change) → German Mutter (*d→t by the Second Germanic Consonant Shift).

These three stages are the most important ones, though it might be possible to see also other consonant changes on the way from West Germanic to Old High German. Among them there are the following ones:

4) the change of WGmc allophones þ/ð → Germ. d which can be regarded as the 4th phase (9-10th cent.) (e.g. early OHG thaz → classical OHG daz (Engl. that, Icel. það vs Dutch dat, Germ. das; early OHG thenken → classical OHG denken (Engl. think, West Fris. tinke vs Dutch denken, Germ. denken; early OHG munth → classical OHG mund (Engl. mouth, Old Norse múþr vs Dutch mond, Germ. Mund).

It also affects Low German and Dutch.

5) the change of WGmc velar frocative ɣ → OHG ɡ (8th cent.)

The same change occurred independently in Old English appr. in the 10th cent., except when preceding or following a front vowel where it had earlier undergone Anglo-Frisian palatalisation and ended up as j (e.g. Germ. gestern, Engl. yester(day), Germ. Tag, Engl. day.

6) the change of WGmc v → OHG b between two vowels and after l (e.g. OE lufu vs OHG liob (Engl. love, Dutch lief, Low Germ. Leev vs Germ. Liebe; OE half vs OHG halb (Engl. half, Dutch half vs Germ. halb).