The processes of gemination, lenition, and vowel lengthening are central to the study of phonology, as they reveal much about the treatment of quantity in a given language. Using data from older language stages, modern dialects and standard languages, this study examines the interdependence of vowel and consonant quantity in the history of the Germanic branch of Indo-European. Kurt Goblirsch focusses on the various geminations in Old Germanic languages (West Germanic gemination, glide strengthening, and expressive gemination), open syllable lengthening in German, Dutch, Frisian, English, and Scandinavian languages, and the major lenitions in High German, Low German, and Danish, as well as minor lenitions in Bavarian, Franconian, and Frisian dialects. All of these changes are related to the development of the Germanic languages from distinctive segmental length to complementary length to syllable cut. The discussion challenges traditional theoretical assumptions about quantity change in Germanic languages to argue for a new account whereby, gemination, lenition, and vowel lengthening are interrelated.

Die Grundlagen des westlichen Mitteldeutschen : Studien zur historischen Sprachgeographie

Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic

The preference for bimoraic stressed syllables in pre-Old High German necessitated the phonological restructuring of syllables with stressed, short vowels either by early implementation of open syllable lengthening (non-shifting dialects north of the Benrath line) or by triggering an autochthonous phonological shift of +t, +p, +k after short vowels (shifting dialects). From there, the OHG dialects “progressed” though the rest of the shift in a largely parallel fashion. Asymmetry of the shift of +-p and +-k and geminate +-pp and +-kk was caused by place bias, however, especially in the Rhenish dialects where tone accents could sometimes delay or block the shift of these segments. The greater susceptibility of the more marked labial and velar affricates (-pf- and −kx-) to weakening limited their later occurrence to dialects outside the Rhineland. The reanalysis of aspirated +t- [th], +p- [ph], +k- [kh] as affricates in initial position was possible only when the corresponding geminate had already shifted, exemplifying both the effects of place bias as well as a kind of phonological reanalysis Blevins (2004) calls “choice.”

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S147054270800007X

Toward a Progression Theory of the Old High German Consonant Shift

The high German consonant shift: Monogenetic or polygenetic?

This paper deals with three South Germanic runic inscriptions that are highly relevant to language history. 1. The Frienstedt comb, which dates to the second half of the 3rd century A.D., bears four runes kaba = WGmc. ka(m)ba m. ‘comb’. The nominative sg. marker -a /x(x)/.

Südgermanische Runeninschriften: Stationen der Sprachgeschichte

The formula for the liberation of slaves is handed down in the vernacular in chapter XXVI of the ‘Pactus legis Salicae’ and chapter XXXVII of the ‘Lex Salica’ [both C6]. The language of this particular part of the text seems to have strong characteristics of Low Franconian, such as the pronoun thi in the accusative and the prefix â - in verbs. In this respect it differs somewhat from the other so-called ‘Malberg Glosses’ in this Latin text.

https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/abag/76/4/article-p455_2.pdf

Die Grundlagen des westlichen Mitteldeutschen : Studien zur historischen Sprachgeographie

Citations

Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic

Toward a Progression Theory of the Old High German Consonant Shift

The high German consonant shift: Monogenetic or polygenetic?

Südgermanische Runeninschriften: Stationen der Sprachgeschichte

Bemerkungen zur salfränkischen Freilassungsformel