Ismatova Shahina All the Germanic Languages of the past and present have common linguistic features that are not shared by other groups of languages in the Indo-European family (Slavic group, Romance group, etc.). These features are characteristic of the Germanic group only. - All the Germanic Languages of the past and present have common linguistic features that are not shared by other groups of languages in the Indo-European family (Slavic group, Romance group, etc.). These features are characteristic of the Germanic group only.
Word Stress - It is known that in ancient IE, prior to the separation of Germanic, there existed two ways of word accentuation: musical pitch and force stress.
- The position of the stress was free and movable, which means that it could fall on any syllable of the word – a root-morpheme, an affix or an ending – and could be shifted both in form-building and word-building.
Both these properties of the word accent were changed in PG. Force and expiratory stress became the only type of stress used. - Both these properties of the word accent were changed in PG. Force and expiratory stress became the only type of stress used.
- In Early PG word stress was still as movable as in ancient IE but in Late PG its position in the word was stabilized. The stress was now fixed on the first syllable, which was usually the root of the word and sometimes the prefix;
Vowels - The Indo-European vowels [a] and [o] got mixed in the Germanic languages. The IE long vowels [ō] and [ā] were both reflected as [ō] in the Germanic languages. The IE short vowels [o] and [a] were both reflected as [a].
1) The IE. ā (long [a]) > Gc. ō(long [o]) E.g. L māter, OE mōdor; U брат, OE brōþor. 2) The IE short [o] > Gc. short [a] E.g. R гость, Gt Gasts Types of vowels - The Germanic languages are also marked by some peculiarities in the development of vowels as compared with other IE languages.
- Qualitative change – affects the quality of a sound (e.g. [o - Λ]).
- Quantitative change – affects the length of a sound (e.g. [i - i:]).
Dependent/positional change – a change that occurs in certain position or in certain phonetic conditions (e.g. bit_ – bite [bit - bait]). - Dependent/positional change – a change that occurs in certain position or in certain phonetic conditions (e.g. bit_ – bite [bit - bait]).
- Independent/spontaneous change – affects a certain sound in all positions irrespective of phonetic conditions and serves to distinguish a grammatical phenomenon (ablaut)
Gradation - Vowel interchanges found in Old and Modern Germanic languages originated at different historical periods. The earliest set of vowel interchanges, which dates from PG and PIE, is called vowel gradation or ablaut. Ablaut is an independent vowel interchange unconnected with any phonetic conditions
- Vowel gradation did not reflect any phonetic changes but was used as a special independent device to differentiate between words and grammatical forms built from the same root.
Ablaut was inherited by Germanic from ancient IE. The principal gradation series used in the IE languages – [e~o] – can be shown in Russian examples: нести~ноша. This kind of ablaut is called qualitative, as the vowels differ only in quality. Alternation of short and long vowels, and also alternation with a "zero“ represent quantitative ablaut - Ablaut was inherited by Germanic from ancient IE. The principal gradation series used in the IE languages – [e~o] – can be shown in Russian examples: нести~ноша. This kind of ablaut is called qualitative, as the vowels differ only in quality. Alternation of short and long vowels, and also alternation with a "zero“ represent quantitative ablaut
- ē e
L lēgi 'elected' lego 'elect' Umlaut - The Germanic umlaut (sometimes called i-umlaut or i-mutation) is a type of linguistic umlaut in which a back vowel changes to the associated front vowel (fronting) or a front vowel becomes closer to /i/ (raising) when the following syllable contains /i/, /iː/, or /j/.
- Whenever a back vowel (/ɑ/, /o/ or /u/, whether long or short) occurred in a syllable and the front vowel /i/ or the front glide /j/ occurred in the next, the vowel in the first syllable was fronted.
- The manifestation of I-mutation is seen in Modern English in the formation of
- Irregular plurals (man- men, goose- geese)
- Abstract nouns from adjectives (hale- health, long- length)
- Verbs from nouns (food- feed)
- Verbs from adjectives (full-fill) and
- Comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
