Second consonant shift

In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development ( sound change) that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic dialect continuum. The shift is used to distinguish High German from other continental West Germanic languages, namely Low Franconian (including standard Dutch) and Low German, which experienced no shift. The shift resulted in the affrication or spirantization of the West Germanic voiceless stop consonants /t/, /p/, and /k/, depending on position in a word. A related change, the devoicing of the voiced stopped consonants /d/, /b/ and /g/, was less widespread, with only the devoicing of /d/ being found in most dialects.

There is no consensus on when the High German consonant shift occurred; it probably began between the 3rd and 5th centuries and was complete before the first written examples in Old High German, the earliest recorded stage of High German, were produced in the 8th century. There is also no consensus on where or how the shift proceeded.

The degree of shift varies within High German. Dialects that experienced the most shift are referred to as Upper German, whereas those that only experienced some are referred to as Central German. Different dialects within Upper and Central German also received different levels of shift, with West Central German exhibiting what is known as the Rhenish fan, a gradual reduction of which consonants are shifted, as one moves north.

General description

In most accounts, the High German consonant shift consists of two related changes:
#the Proto-West Germanic voiceless stop consonants /t/, /p/, and /k/ spirantize to /s/, /f/, /x/, or else affricate to /ts/, /pf/, /kx/, depending on their position in the word (). No shift takes place after a fricative (/sp/, /xt/, /st/, /ft/, etc. all remain unchanged) or in the combination /tr/ (/pr/ and /kr/ are still affected);
#the pre-Old High German voiced stop consonants /d/, /b/, and /g/ (Proto-West Germanic /ð/, /β/, and /ɣ/) devoice to the voiceless stop consonants /t/, /p/, and /k/ ().
All High German dialects have experienced at least part of the shift of voiceless stops to fricatives/affricates. The shift of voiceless stops to fricatives/affricates has traditionally been used to distinguish different German dialects: Upper German dialects experienced the greatest degree of shift, whereas Central German dialects only experienced a partial shift (other West Germanic languages experienced no shift). Only southern dialects experience the shift of voiced to voiceless stops, with the shift of /d/ to /t/ found in Upper German and in some Central German dialects, while the shift of /b/ to /p/ and /g/ to /k/ is only found consistently in (Old) Bavarian.

Modern standard German is based mostly on East Central German dialects and thus features many but not all of the shifted forms. In particular, of the consonants, only the shift of /d/ to /t/ is found in almost all instances in the modern standard. The shift results in characteristic differences between modern standard German and other Germanic languages, such as:
:German vs. English ''water'', Dutch , Swedish (German /s/ vs. other Germanic /t/)
:German vs. English ''tongue'', Dutch , Swedish (German /ts/ vs. other Germanic /t/)
:German vs. English ''ship'', Dutch , Swedish (German /f/ vs. other Germanic /p/)
:German vs. English ''apple'', Dutch , Swedish (German /pf/ vs. other Germanic /p/)
:German vs. English ''like'', Dutch , Swedish (German /x/ vs. other Germanic /k/)
:German vs. English ''daughter'', Dutch , Swedish (German /t/ vs. other Germanic /d/)

Excluding loanwords from Low German and foreign borrowings (e.g. from French , a doublet of German , both from Latin ), Modern Standard German has retained unshifted /p t k/ only after a fricative (e.g. , English ''stone'') or in the combination /tr/ (e.g. , English ''true'').

Another change, the shift of /þ/ () to /d/, is sometimes seen as related to the High German consonant shift. However, it also comes to encompass the other continental West Germanic languages. The relation of this change to the second consonant shift, as well as that of another change, that of initial /x/ to /h/, is disputed. Braune and Reiffenstein discount a connection entirely.

Detailed description

Shifts to voiceless stops

The result of the shift of the voiceless stops /p t k/ depends on their position in the word. The degree to which the stops are shifted also shows considerable variation between Upper German and Central German dialects. In particular, the shift of /p/ and /k/ in initial position is subject to dialectal variation.
* shifts
:: to /t͡s/ initially, in geminates, and after another consonant:
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''ten'', modern German )
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''heart'', modern German )
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''set'', modern German )
:: to after a vowel, simplifying to at the end of a word, as well as frequently after a long vowel:
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''eat'', modern German )
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''bite'', modern German )
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''out'', modern German )
::Both shifts to /t/ occur in all High German dialects. However, the Central German Middle Franconian dialects show unshifted final /t/ for neuter pronouns (, , , , ). Beginning in the 13th century, the fricative /ʒ/ merges with /s/ in most German dialects.
* shifts
:: to /p͡f/ initially, in geminates, and after another consonant:
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''pepper'', modern German )
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''help'', modern German )
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''scoop'', modern German )
:: to /ff/ after a vowel, simplifying to /f/ at the end of a word, as well as often after a long vowel:
:::Old Saxon : (English ''pepper'', modern German
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''gripe'', modern German )
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''ship'', modern German )
:: In Central German Middle and most Rhine Franconian dialects, the shift only takes place after a vowel:
:::
::Additionally, some Middle Franconian dialects retain final /p/ in the preposition .
* shifts
:: to /k͡x/ initially, in geminates, and after another consonant:
::: Old Saxon : Upper OHG (English ''corn'', modern German )
::: Old Saxon : Upper OHG (English ''work'', modern German )
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''awake'', modern German
:: to after a vowel, simplifying to /x/ at the end of a word, as well as often after a long vowel:
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''break'', modern German )
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''yoke'', modern German )
:: All dialects shift /k/ to /xx/ after a vowel; only the Upper German Alemannic and Bavarian shift it in other positions:
:::

/p t k/ remained unshifted in all dialects when following the fricative consonants /s/, /f/, and /x/ (examples: OHG Engl. 'spin', OHG Engl. 'stone, OHG Engl. 'night'). /t/ likewise remained unshifted in the combination /tr/ (examples: OHG Engl. 'tread', OHG Engl. 'bitter' rom West Germanic ''*bitra''.

Shifts to voiced consonants

In the so-called , the voiced consonsants /d b g/ devoice to /t p k/. Like the shift to the voiceless stops, the shift to the voiced stops varies by dialect and to some degree by position in the word. In those Upper German dialects that shifted all three stops, there was likely no longer any distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants.
* /d/ > /t/:
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''door'', modern German )
::: Old Saxon : OHG (no English equivalent, modern German )
:::Old Saxon : OHG (English ''bid'', modern German )
::This shift is found in Upper German and most Central German, but in Rhine Franconian only in geminates and word finally.
* /b/ > /p/:
::: Old Saxon : Upper OHG (English ''blood'', modern German )
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''sib'', modern German )
::This change is found most consistently in Bavarian, where it takes place in all positions. In Alemannic, it is consistently found word finally and word initially, but b often occurs word-internally. /bb/ shifts to /pp/ in all dialects except in (Central German) Ripuarian.
* /g/ > /k/:
::: Old Saxon : Upper OHG (English ''give'', modern German )
::: Old Saxon : OHG (English ''ridge'', modern German )
::The change is found in Bavarian and Alemannic, most consistently word-initially, and in Bavarian also word-internally and finally. /gg/ shifts to /kk/ in all dialects except in (Central German) Ripuarian.

The effects of the are most visible in the shift of /d/ to /t/; this is the change with the widest spread and the only one that was not partially reversed in the Old High German period. On the other hand, while early Bavarian and Alemannic both show a shift of /g b/ to /k p/, by the 9th century in Alemannic reverts to writing /g/ and /b/ except for the geminated stops (/kk/ and /pp/ rather than /gg/ and /bb/), and in the 10th century, Bavarian also begins to write /g/ and /b/ more often. By the Middle High German period, Bavarian only consistently writes /p/ for single /b/ in word-initial position - the state preserved in modern southern Bavarian dialects.

Table of changes

Chronology

There is no agreement about the time period in which the High German consonantal shift took place. Its completion is usually dated to just before the earliest attestations of Old High German (8th century CE). The change affects geminate consonants in a different manner than simple consonants, indicating that West Germanic gemination predated it; the gemination is usually dated to the 5th century CE. Additionally, Latin loanwords adopted into the language prior to the 6th century display the shift, whereas those adopted from the 8th century onward do not. The relative chronology of the different changes remains poorly understood. It is usually argued to have begun with /t/, then moved to /p/, then to /k/.

Geographical distribution

Although the boundaries of the dialects have shifted since the Old High German period, the degree to which dialects underwent the High German consonant shift continues to form the basis for differentiating the different modern German dialects, and, in particular, for the division between Central German dialects, which have fewer shifted consonants, and Upper German dialects, which have more. The gradually increasing application of the shift from north to south is most extensive in the west. Here, the isoglosses defined by the occurrence of individual shifts are spread out in a fan-like manner, forming the ''Rheinischer Fächer'' ('Rhenish fan').

The northern border for the occurrence of the shift of /t/ to /(t)s/ in all positions (except in absolute final position in pronouns like ''dat'', ''wat'' and the neuter ending ''-t'') and the shift of /p/ and /k/ to /f/ and /x/ in intervocalic and root-final position is the Benrath line that separates the High German dialects to the south from the Low Saxon and Low Franconian dialects to the north. Further north, the consonant shift is only found with the adverb ''auch'' 'also' and a handful of pronouns that have final /k/ shifted to /x/ (''ich'' 'I', ''dich'' 'thee', ''mich'' 'me') in the South Low Franconian dialect area, with the Uerdingen line as its northern border.

The shift of /p/ to /f/ after consonants (e.g. ''helpan'' > ''helfen'' 'help') sets off Moselle Franconian dialects from Ripuarian dialects with the latter having retained unshifted /p/. The shift of /t/ to /s/ in ''wat'', ''dat'' > ''was'', ''das'' etc. characterizes Rhine Franconian. The shift of root-initial and historically geminated /p/ to /pf/ (''Pund'' > ''Pfund'' 'pound', ''Appel'' > ''Apfel'' 'apple') marks the transition from the West Central German to the Upper German dialects. East Central German is separated from West Central German through having shifted initial p (the "Pund-Fund" line); only far southern East Central German dialects retain initial /pf-/, whereas other East Central German dialects have simplified it to initial /f-/. The shift of root-initial and historically geminated /k/ to /kx/ (and further to /x/, as in ''Kind'' > ''Chind'') occurs in the southern part of the Upper German dialect area.

See also

* Glottalic theory
* The Tuscan , a similar evolution differentiating the Tuscan dialects from Standard Italian.

Notes

References

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:High German Consonant Shift
History of the German language
Old High German
Germanic sound laws