Phonological History of English - Late Proto-Germanic Period

Late Proto-Germanic Period

This period is estimated to last to approximately AD 1–200. This includes changes in late Proto-Germanic, up to the appearance of Proto-West-Germanic c. AD 200:

• Word-final /m/ became /n/.
  • Word-final /n/ was then lost after unstressed syllables with nasalization of the preceding vowel. Hence PrePG *dʰogʰom > early PG *dagam > late PG dagã > OE dæġ "day (acc. sg.)". The nasalisation was retained at least into the earliest history of Old English.
• Unstressed word-final /a/ and /e/ were lost. Early PG *barta > late PG *bart "you carried (sg)".
• After an unstressed syllable, word-final /t/ was lost. This followed the loss of word-final /n/, because it remained before /t/: PrePG *bhr̥n̥t > early PG *burunt > late PG *burun "they carried".
• /e/ was raised to /i/ in unstressed syllables.
  • The original vowel remained when followed by /r/, and was later lowered to /ɑ/.
• Early i-mutation: /e/ was raised to /i/ when an /i/ or /j/ followed in the next syllable.
  • This occurred before deletion of word-final /i/; hence PIE *upéri > early PG *uberi > late PG *ubiri > German über "over". Compare PIE *upér > early PG *uber > late PG *ubar > German ober "over".
  • But it occurred after the raising of unstressed /e/ to /i/: PIE *bherete > PG *berid > *birid "you carry (pl)".
  • This also affected the diphthong /eu/, which became /iu/.
  • As a consequence of this change, /ei/ > /iː/. The Elder Futhark of the Proto-Norse language still contained different symbols for the two sounds.
• z-umlaut: /e/ is raised to /i/ before /z/.
  • Early PG *mez "me, dative" > late PG *miz > OHG mir, OS mi, ON mér (with general lowering and lengthening of i before r).
  • This change was only sporadic at best because there were barely any words in which it could have occurred at all, since /e/ remained only in stressed syllables. The umlauting effect of /z/ remained, however, and in Old West Norse it was extended to other vowels as well. Hence OEN glaʀ, hrauʀ, OWN gler, hreyrr.
• Pre-nasal raising: /e/ > /i/ before nasal + consonant. PrePG *bʰendʰonom > PG *bendanan > *bindanan > OE bindan > NE bind (Latin of-fendō).
  • This was later extended in PreOE times to vowels before all nasals; hence OE niman "take" but OHG neman.
• Loss of /n/ before /x/, with nasalization and compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.
  • The nasalization was eventually lost, but remained through the Ingvaeonic period.
  • Hence PrePG *tongjonom > PG *þankijanan > OE þencan > NE think, but PrePG *tonktos > PG *þanhtaz > *þā̃htaz > OE þōht > NE thought.
  • This change followed the raising of /e/ before a nasal: PG *þenhanã > *þinhanã > *þī ̃hanã > Gothic þeihan.
• Final-syllable short vowels were generally deleted in words of three syllables or more. PG *biridi > Goth baíriþ /beriθ/ "(he) carries" (see above), and also PG *-maz, *-miz > *-mz (dative and instrumental plural ending of nouns, 1st person plural ending of verbs, as on the Stentoften Runestone).