DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES Lecture 5

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES Lecture 5

Germanic became different from the other IE language groups in a number of ways:

Common Germanic Areal

The Indo-European free accentual system allowed any syllable to be stressed. Stress being tonal / dynamic a large number of stops, few fricatives. The traditional (prelaryngeal) reconstruction included only one fricative, /s/ PIE phonology Dynamic stress on the root syllable, Unstressed vowels reduced, 3 Consonant shifts Gmc phonology

VOWELS Several Indo-European vowels were modified in the Germanic languages. For example, IE /a: / became /o: /. Latin mater : : OE modor.

WORD BUILDING Three parts of the PIE word Extensive use of ablaut as word building means Root stem suffix ending > – ending In CGmnc the stem suffix either merges with case flexion, or becomes an ending , or merges with the root. ONorse bera нести, народжувати – barn дитя, ОЕ. bindan зв’язувати – band тасьма). PIE CGmc

has a number of unique vocabulary items, words which have no known cognates in other IE languages: rain, drink, drive, broad, hold, wife, meat, ice, fowl. These words may have been lost in the other IE languages, borrowed from non-IE languages, coined in Germanic.

THE PIE : : GERMANIC VERBAL SYSTEM Simplified: PIE distinctions of tense and aspect (indicates whether an action or state is viewed with regard to beginning, duration, incompletion, etc. ) were lost except for the present and preterite (past) tenses. These two tenses are still the only ones indicated by inflection in Modern English; future and perfect tenses are expressed with analytic forms -e. g. , I will have gone, etc.

Verbs used a sophisticated system of conjugation. a complex system of morphology including inflections (suffixing of roots), and ablaut Nouns used a sophisticated system of declension PIE Past tense of weak verbs by means of dental suffix: Goth. satjan – satida, Mod. E to play – played And strong verbs by means of ablaut: Goth. bindan – band, Strong and weak declension of Adjectives CGmc

REGULAR : : IRREGULAR VERBS Germanic developed a preterite tense (called weak or regular) with a dental suffix, -d or -t (e. g. fish, fished, etc. ). Germanic languages thus have two types of verbs, weak (regular) and strong (irregular). Strong verbs indicate tense by an ablaut The weak form is the living method of inflection, and many originally strong verbs have become weak.

WEAK : : STRONG ADJECTIVES The weak declension was used when the modified noun was preceded by another word which indicated case, number, and gender. The strong declension was used in other situations. These declensions are no longer found in modern English, but compare these examples from Old English: þa geongan ceorlas 'the young fellows' and geonge ceorlas 'young fellows. ' (The weak adjective ends in -an while the strong adjective ends in -e. )

SYNTAX The simple sentence has the tendency for fixed word order, especially for the verb (fixed word order in English, frame in German).

Early layers of borrowings are Celtic Latin Greek Later borrowings are from Latin, French Germanic vocabulary proper is largely retained in Icelandic, having scarce borrowings. English is characterised by etymologic vocabulary heterogenity having three main sources of loan words: Scandinavian, Latin, French.

East All Germanic languages possess distinctive particularities discriminating their groupings West North – East, West, North. The distinctive particularities touch upon vowels and consonants as well as morphology.

Gothic Scandinavian: retaining of intervocal spirants b, d (v, ð). West- Germanic : : Scandinavian - Rotacism скр. ayas бронза, гот. aiz , да. ār (> ore руда), - Verner’s law

West Germanic traits - ð > d in all positions, - West Germanic gemination Anglo-Saxon traits Nasal loss Goth. fimf – OE fif, Goth. anþar – OE ōðer.

Gothic particularities Lack of voiced occlusives b, d, g, Retaining of CGmc z. OHG particularities Second consonant shift þ > ð > d in all positions

SCANDINAVIAN TRAITS z > r in all positions (послiдовний ротацизм: сканд. sunr).

Syntax is a branch of grammar that studies the structure of a sentence, word order, members of the sentence ways of sentence connection 19

PROTO INDO EUROPEAN, PROTO GERMANIC, OLD GERMANIC SYNTAX 20

KARL BRUGMANN (1849 -1919 Was Karl Brugmann a German linguist. He is a towering figure in IE linguistics. Brugmann's fame rests on the two volumes on phonology, morphology, and word formation which he contributed to the five-volume "Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen" (1886 -1893). The other three volumes were written by Berthold Delbrück and provided a still-unsurpassed account of PIE syntax. 21

BERTHOLD GUSTAV GOTTLIEB DELBRÜCK (26 JULY 1842– 3 JAN 1922) Prepared the first thoroughly methodical and complete treatment of a problem in comparative syntax. Berthold Delbruck 22

MAIN TRAITS OF IE SYNTAX V (verb) - the main constituent of the sentence The position of S (subject) and O (object) is determined in relation to the verb S OV O S preposition postposition 23

IE SIMPLE SENTENCE TYPES One-member: nominal, verbal Two-member: SV Three – member: SOV (Він мене бачить) 24

DOMINANT STRUCTURAL SENTENCE MODELS IN MODERN LANGUAGES Model # 1 VSO Model # 2 SVO Model # 3 SOV Joseph Greenberg 25

One member: with the Subject lacking were of two types: 1) with implicit subject (so called formally one-member): elliptical, imperative, inflected verb forms: Goth. laistei afar mis – “іди за мною” 2) with non-finites to denote feelings, natural phenomena: Goth. rignjan – “дощить” Two member: extended, non-extended OV: runoz waritu – пишу руни, SOV: iÞ Jesus quaÞ du imma, OVS: Makija maridai Ala – меч прикрасив Ала 26

PARTS OF THE SENTENCE S – subject: noun / pronoun in Nonminative case V – predicate: verbal and nounal. Simple verbal predicate expressed by the finite form of the verb Complex verbal predicate: Modal verb + Infinitive Verb denoting ‘beginning, possession, getting, becoming’ + Infinitive / Participle 27

COMPOUND NOUNAL PREDICATE LINK VERB + PREDICATIVE (noun, adjective, participle) O Icelandic: Þā war kanungr - тоді був король молодим OE: Þæt wæs gōd cyning – то був хороший король OHG: Ih bin alt – я старий Gothic: huan aggwu þata daur (without link verb) – які вузькі ті ворота 28

ATTRIBUTE Adjective: OE Beowulf lēofa Participle Pronoun Numeral Noun in Genitive case: fuglam himinis – птахом небесним N+N - the attribute can be either of the two nouns in OE þæs cynings brōdor – брат короля 29

OBJECT Prepositional Non-prepositional can be in pre / post position to the verb 30

ADVERBIAL MODIFIER Time, place, purpose, reason, manner Expressed by: adverbs, fossilised case forms that turned to adverbs, N+Preposition; Infinitive+Preposition Goth Himma daga – сьогодні, сего+дня 31

SYNTACTIC CONSTRUCTIONS Absolute constructions Infinitive with Accusative (in bookish style) under the influence of Latin and Greek Dativus absolutus (Participle + Dative) Dalaþ þan atgaggandin imma af fairgunja, laistidēdun afar imma iumjōns managōs – Коли він спустився вниз з гори (до нього, що спускався), за ним пішли великі натовпи людей 32

ABSOLUTE CONSTRUCTIONS Absolute accusative (expressing temporal meaning): at raginōndin Saurim Kweirainiau – коли Квіріній правив Сирієюю Absolute nominal: jah waur þans dags gatils – коли настав день пригожий 33

NEGATION * ne- / ni Position: usually before Predicate, Object Sometimes before Subject Predominantly mononegation in the majority of G languages In OE – polinegation: OE hē næfre nænig lēoþ geleornade – він ніколи ніякої пісні не вчив 34

TYPES OF SYNTACTIC CONNECTION Agreement or concord happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates. Case government is government of the grammatical case of verb arguments, when a verb or preposition is said to 'govern' the grammatical case on its noun phrase complement Juxtapposition is placement of two words near each other. 35

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF SIMPLE SENTENCES IN GERMANIC LANGUAGES Juxtapposition and government in English frame in German ‘Modern English has the verb in medial position, which sets the language apart from other Germanic languages. In other Germanic languages the verb is in the second position if it is not proceeded by a Subject’ (Buniyatova I. R. ) Professor Buniyatova I. R. Ukraine 36

PIE MINOR SYNTAX Attributive syntagm: Adj N, possessive Genitive N N Negation: *n(e)- + particle / adverb / pronoun: L. nēmō, n-ullus; Goth. ni mannahum , ni ainshun 37

PIE MAJOR SYNTAX Compound sentences: S + Conj + S (enclitic particle L. kue, Goth. (u)h) Complex sentences and conjunctions in PIE cannot be reconstructed 38

COMPOUND AND COMPLEX SENTENCES Developed system, originated either in late PIE, or after separation of Germanic group of languages from common ancestor. Compound / complex connection was at first indistinct. 39

COMPOUND SENTENCES Originated on the basis of simple sentences connected (a)syndetically Typical conjunctions: OE and, oþþe, ac OHG inti, ioh, ouh, doh, abur, odo O Icel ok, eda 40

PIE MAJOR SYNTAX. DEFINITION OF HYPOTAXIS Hypotaxis is the grammatical arrangement of functionally similar but "unequal" constructs (hypo="beneath", taxis="arrangement"), i. e. , constructs playing an unequal role in a sentence. A common example of syntactic expression of hypotaxis is subordination in a complex sentence. 41

MAJOR SYNTAX PIE hypotaxis can not be reconstructed because it either didn’t exist, or its material representation (conjunctions) had been renovated in all IE languages. Conjunctions marking dependant clauses in IE languages developed from declinable forms of pronouns: тому, що; якому; відколи. 42

COMPLEX SENTENCES Appeared on the basis of compound sentences Are the most recent type of sentence. The earliest type of clause is relative The markers: conjunctions, word order, conditional mood. 43

TYPES OF CLAUSES Subject Goth. Pronouns saei, þatei OIcel at, er Adjective Goth. Pronouns sah, þatuh, saei, þatei OE se, seo, þæt, þe OHG – ther, thaz, thiu Temporal Goth þan, miþþanei, untē, biþē, OE þa, þonne, þær, siþþanō Object þatei, þei, OE þæt, þe OHG thaz Adverbial: place, reason, purpose, condition: OE þadei, þarei, þær, OHG thar, Goth unte, þande etc. 44

In PIE there were only simple sentences (OV) In Germanic languages word order shifts to (S)VO One member sentence in Germanic was changed into two-member sentence Complex sentences developed from simple Polinegation changed to mononegation 45