• all speech production happens in the mouth or throat
– throat: larynx• most vowel sounds
• produced by the continuous flow of airover the pharynx, in combination withcertain configuration in the mouth
• back to front: i/e/a/o/u
• very variable over time and across regions
– nose: middle ground between vowels and consonants• nasals = semivowels
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• all speech production happens in the mouth or throat
– mouth: palate/teeth/lips• most consonants
• by stopping and then releasingthe flow of air
• or narrowing the air stream:fricatives (f/v/z/sh/th)
– spirant (/s/): air through teeth
• or forcing it through the nose– nasals
– liquids
– continuants
PHONEMESVOICED: B D GUNVOICED: P T C
FRICATIVES: F V Z SH TH
NASALS: M NLIQUIDS: L R
CONTINUANTS: W Y
LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw
ASPIRATES: BH DH GH GwH
LARYNGEALS: ?
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• voiced vs. unvoiced consonants– based on the use of the vocal
chords (or not)• voiced: b/d/g/m/z
• unvoiced: p/t/c/n/sh
– classes of consonants• based on where the sound is
formed in the mouth
• labial (lips): b/g
• dental (teeth and tongue): d/t
• palatal (hard palate): g/c– or velar (velum, “soft palate”)
• labiovelar (lips/palate): gw/kw(=qu)
PHONEMESVOICED: B D GUNVOICED: P T C
FRICATIVES: F V Z SH TH
NASALS: M NLIQUIDS: L R
CONTINUANTS: W Y
LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw
ASPIRATES: BH DH GH GwH
LARYNGEALS: ?
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• Indo-European had most ofthese consonants– 18 total
– but it was missing: b, z, sh
– and it had a full set of aspirates:bh/dh/gh/gwh
– and a mysterious set of consonants called “laryngeals”
• these are the consonants that all IE daughter languages inherit
PHONEMESVOICED: B D GUNVOICED: P T C
FRICATIVES: F V Z SH TH
NASALS: M NLIQUIDS: L R
CONTINUANTS: W Y
LABIOVELARS: Gw Kw
ASPIRATES: BH DH GH GwH
LARYNGEALS: ?
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• the Germanic branch of Indo-European– i.e. the way the IE language evolved as IE speakers moved into
northern Europe• West Germanic: German, English, Dutch
• East Germanic: now extinct
• North Germanic (Scandinavian): Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• West Germanic– developed among Germanic speakers who lived between the Elbe
and Oder Rivers
– this is the mother tongue of modern German
– also English, after the Angles and Saxons invade and settle England
• East Germanic– developed among German speakers who lived east of the Oder
River
– this branch of Germanic is now extinct
• Northern Germanic– developed in Denmark, Norway and Sweden; and later Iceland
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• THE GREAT CONSONANT SHIFT– around 1000-500 BCE, there occurred a significant shift in
consonants that affected all Germanic languages• before Common Germanic had begun to break up
– the change affected only consonants• primarily voiced, unvoiced, and aspirate consonants (some labiovelars)
• NOT vowels or semi-vowels (i.e. nasals, liquids, continuants)
– it is unclear why this change happened• “languages drift”
“It is often assumed that the change was due to contact with a non-Germanic population. The contact could have resulted from the migration of the Germainctribes or from the penetration of a foreign population into Germanic territory.”
A.C. Baugh, A History of the English Language
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
• the change began when unvoiced consonants (p/t/k)changed into aspirate consonants (ph/th/ch)– for some reason, our Germanic ancestors decided to start
speaking breathily all the time
• but then it was hard to tell what words meant, so the original aspirate consonants became voiced consonants
• then the voiced consonants became unvoiced consonants, bringing all these consonants full circle
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• that this had happened was first discovered by Jacob Grimm (1785-1863)– linguist, philologist and folklorist
• as a student, he went about the German countryside, gathering evidence from locals of archaic words
• language in the country often retains archaic constructions lost in the city
– 1822: Grimm published evidence of the Great Consonant Shift• henceforth, “Grimm’s Law”
– but to convince suspicious country folk to speak with him, he had to tell them he was collecting stories
• when, in fact, he was really listening for odd/archaic words
• in the end, he had a fascinating body of traditional narrative which he published with his brother Wilhelm as “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• later, Jacob became interested in folklore in general– especially German mythology
• he also oversaw the creation of a German dictionary and grammar
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
• now let’s look at Grimm’s Law:– by examining words that at first don’t look like cognates but,
when you understand Grimm’s Law, you can see they are!• we’ll do this by looking at Latin/Greek words which haven’t undergone
the Great Consonant Shift and comparing them to their English cognates
– remember that vowels (and semi-vowels) are unstable and very likely to change — focus only on the consonants
– e.g. Latin pater = English _________?• Latin p = English f
• Latin t = English th
father
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C_______________
GEN(US)“race, family”
genus, genesis, genetic
K_NKIN
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C_______________
GEL(I)D(US)“frozen”
gelid, congeal, Jell-O
C _ LDCOLD
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C___________________
CHOL(OS)“bile”
cholera, melancholy
G _ L(L)GALL
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C___________________
HOST(IS)“stranger”
host, hostile, hostel/hotel
G _ STGUEST
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C_____________
DA(CTYLOS)“digit, finger, extremity”
dactylic, pterodactyl
T__TOE
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C_____________
D(UO)“pair, both”
duo, dual, duplicate
T __TWO
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C_________________
TH(EMA)“act, accomplish”
theme, synthesis, antithesis
D_DO
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
_________________
POL(Y)“many, much”
polygon, polygamy
F_LLFULLFILL
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
_________________
FER(O)“carry”
fertile, transfer, refer
B__RBEAR
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
_________________
_______________
FRAG(ILIS)“crush, destroy”
fragile, fragment, fracture
BR__KBREAK
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
_________________
_____________________
PISC(ES)“sea creature”
Pisces, piscary
F_SHFISH
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C______________
DOM(US)“house”
domestic, domicile, dome
T_METAMET_M TIM(BER)(BER)
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
_________________
FER(VO)“become hot”
fervid, effervescent
B_R(N)BUR(N)
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C_______________
GRAN(US)“grain”
granary, granola
C_R(N)COR(N)
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C______________________
CORN(U)“antler”
unicorn, cornet
H_R(N)HOR(N)
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C________________________________
DENT(ES)“molar, incisor”
dentist, dentition, indent
T__THTEETH
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C_______________
AG(E)R“field”
agriculture, agronomy
_CR_ACR(E)
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C__________________
TON(ITUS)“loud noise”
intone, astonish,detonate
TH_N THUN(DER)(DER)
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
_________________
FLO(RA)“flower”
florid, florist,flourescent
BL__ BLOOM(M)
Latin and Greek Elements in EnglishGrimm’s Law
UNVOICED ASPIRATE VOICED UNVOICED
LABIALS: P > PH (F) > B > PDENTALS: T > TH (F) > D > T
GUTTURALS: K/C > KH/CH (H) > G > K/C
_________________
AP(O)-“away from”
apostate, apostrophe, apostle
_FOFOFF
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