Word Stress

The Indo-European languages have a free stress, that is any syllable of the word can be stressed. In Germanic languages the stress became limited to the beginning of the word, usually the 1-st syllable is stressed.

OE ^/bringan

^/Englisc

The fixation of the stress on the 1-st syllable had far reaching effects.

1) It caused the reduction of unstressed vowels in final position;

2) Final consonants were changed too.

These changes in phonetic structure greatly contributed to the changes in

morphology.

The 1-st or Germanic consonant shift is a specific feature of Germanic languages. In Germanic languages all Indo-European stop consonants change their way of articulation. The changes (they have three acts) are as follows:

Indo-European *p *t *k - *b *d *g - *bh *dh *gh

Germ. *f *Ø *h - *p *t *k - *b *d *g

The corresponding changes were summarized by J. Grimm, an outstanding philologist. And the whole complex of these changes is called Grimm’s Law.

*(this sign shows that the sounds are reconstructed).

a) Indo-European voiceless stops p, t, k became voiceless fricatives in Germanic f, þ, h.

Examples:

Indo-EuropeanGermanic

p > f Lat. piscus Goth. fisks – ON fiskr – OE fisc

Russ. полный Engl. full

t > þLat. tres Goth. þrei – OE þrēo

k > h Lat. octo Goth. ahtau – OE eahta

b) Indo-European voiced stopsb, d, g became voiceless in Germanic p, t, k.

b > p Lat. dubus – Goth. diups – OE dēop

d > tLat. duo – Goth. twag – OE twegen

g > k Lat. genu – OE kneo

c) The Indo-European voiced aspirated stops lost their aspiration in Germanic languages.

*bh > *b *dh > *d *gh > *g

1) Sanscrit bharami (несу) → Goth. bairan – OE beran

2) Sanscrit rudhiras – OE rēad

3)Ukrainian гість – Lat. hostis – OE giest