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25-592: The High German consonant shift (3rd to 9th centuries AD), in which the (northern) Low German dialects for the most part did not participate, affected the southern varieties of the West Germanic dialect continuum . This shift is traditionally seen to distinguish the High German varieties from the other West Germanic languages . The impact of the High German consonant shift increases gradually to

50-479: 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/. Although

75-470: A doublet of German Pferch , both from Latin parricus ), Modern Standard German has retained unshifted /p t k/ only after a fricative (e.g. Stein , English stone ) or in the combination /tr/ (e.g. treu , English true ). Another change, the shift of /þ/ ( /θ/ ) 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

100-535: Is based mostly on East Central German dialects and thus features many but not all of the shifted forms. In particular, of the Medienverschiebung 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: Excluding loanwords from Low German and foreign borrowings (e.g. Park from French parc ,

125-520: Is known as the Rhenish fan , a gradual reduction of which consonants are shifted, as one moves north. In most accounts, the High German consonant shift consists of two related changes: 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

150-415: 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

175-731: The Middle High German time, East Franconian and sometimes South Franconian are added to this. Swabian splits off from Alemannic due to the New High German diphthongisation ( neuhochdeutsche Diphthongierung ). Upper German proper comprises the Alemannic and Bavarian dialect groups. Furthermore, the High Franconian dialects, spoken up to the Speyer line isogloss in the north, are often also included in

200-638: 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

225-466: 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

250-545: The dialect of the Western Lake ( Seealemannisch , literally Lake Alemannic ) (northern of the Bodensee) is differentiated. Based on the fact that Langobardic (German: Langobardisch ), extinct around 1000, has undergone the High German consonant shift , it is also often classified as Upper German. A competing view is that it is an open question where to place Langobardic inside of Old High German and if it

275-694: 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

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300-495: 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. 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

325-489: The South. The Benrath line does not mark the northernmost effect of the High German consonant shift, since the Uerdingen line , the ik–ich isogloss, lies slightly further north; and some of the peripheral changes associated with the shift did affect Low German. This article about Germanic languages is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . High German consonant shift In historical linguistics ,

350-493: The Upper German dialect group. Whether they should be included as part of Upper German or instead classified as Central German is an open question, as they have traits of both Upper and Central German and are frequently described as a transitional zone. Hence, either scheme can be encountered. Erzgebirgisch , usually lumped in with Upper Saxon on geographical grounds, is closer to East Franconian linguistically, especially

375-497: 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

400-432: 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

425-404: 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. 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,

450-472: 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

475-515: 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

500-501: The shift of /p/ and /k/ in initial position is subject to dialectal variation. /p t k/ remained unshifted in all dialects when following the fricative consonants /s/, /f/, and /x/ (examples: OHG spinnan Engl. 'spin', OHG stein Engl. 'stone, OHG naht Engl. 'night'). /t/ likewise remained unshifted in the combination /tr/ (examples: OHG tretan Engl. 'tread', OHG bittar Engl. 'bitter' [from West Germanic *bitra ]). In

525-511: 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

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550-435: The so-called Medienverschiebung , 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. The effects of the Medienverschiebung are most visible in

575-416: The southern part of the Upper German dialect area. Upper German High Franconian : Alemannic : Bavarian : Upper German ( German : Oberdeutsch [ˈoːbɐdɔʏtʃ] ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area ( Sprachraum ). In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In

600-584: 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

625-544: The western dialects of Erzgebirgisch. Upper German is divided roughly in multiple different ways, for example in: or: or: or writing dialects ( Schriftdialekte , Schreibdialekte ) in the Early New High German times: In English there is also a grouping into: Attempts to group East Franconian and North Bavarian together as North Upper German are not justified and were not sustainable. Other ways to group Alemannic include: Sometimes

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