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THE HIGH GERMAN CONSONANT SHIFT AND LANGUAGE CONTACT

PETER SCHRIJVER

Summary The High German Consonant Shift, which turned PGerm *p, *t, *k into pf/ff, ts/ss, kx/xx, respec- tively, is one of the most heavily commented sound developments in the history of linguistics. Almost all attempts at explaining the change have centered on language-internal mechanisms or on dialect contact rather than on language contact between Germanic and Romance, but this article is an exception. The most complex rule system involving the Consonant Shift is found in the German , where it is characterized by a striking asymmetry between the positions in the word in which *p, *t and *k are affected. The asymmetry is matched across the linguistic border by restrictions on the occurrence of affricates in early Gallo-Romance. It can be argued that (1) this match implies a causal link, (2) Gallo-Romance probably is the point of origin, and (3) the Consonant Shift in the Rhineland ultimately goes back to language shift from Gallo- Romance to Germanic in the early Middle Ages. The consequences for explaining the Consonant Shift in other parts of the High German area are addressed as well.

1. Introduction The High German consonant shift (henceforth: HGCS) is one of the most heavily commented sound changes in the history of linguistics. Whereas de- bate continues unabatedly about the analysis of the descriptive data, it might seem that nothing new can be added to the descriptive data themselves. I be- lieve, however, that new light may be cast on the origins and causes of the HGCS by a more acute appreciation of the historical phonology of the Ro- mance dialects that adjoin the High German area. This approach is not new, for the relevance of Romance data to different aspects of the HGCS has been acknowledged in various ways by a number of researchers (cf. Steche 1937, Haubrichts 1987, Lange 2007). Yet there is a more substantial contribution to be made by Romance, and this is what the article will be about. In section 2 the basic data are presented, with special attention being paid to the increasingly complex systems according to which the HGCS operated in the so-called Rhenish Fan. The constraint on the HGCS in word-final posi- tion is the topic of section 3. Section 4 deals with another blocking rule: *t does not shift when it came into contact with a dental obstruent as a result of syncope. Both constraints are typical of the Rhenish Fan. Exceptions to the HGCS that are not rule-based are briefly addressed in section 5. The date of the HGCS in the Rhineland is the subject of section 6. Section 7 is the center- 218 PETER SCHRIJVER piece: I argue that the asymmetrical pattern of positions in the word that are affected by the HGCS in the Rhenish Fan is matched exactly by the asymmet- rical pattern of positions in the word in which Gallo-Romance affricates ex- isted between approximately 400 and 900. This match is explained as a result of language shift from Romance to Germanic in the Rhineland. A similar shift in northern Italy had similar consequences, as is argued in section 8. Conclusions and consequences are presented in section 9.

2. The High German consonant shift: treatment of PGerm *p, *t, *k The HGCS turns the Proto-Germanic (PGerm) voiceless plosives *p, *t and *k into the affricates *pf, *ts and *kx, which may then go on to develop into the geminate fricatives *ff, *ss and *xx. These may or may not be subsequently shortened to single fricatives. Whether or not the shift occurs and, if it occurs, whether or not the affricates develop into long or short fricatives, depends on the position of *p, *t, *k within the word and on geography. In some form or other, the HGCS affects all Germanic dialects approxi- mately south of a line that links Düsseldorf to Magdeburg according to a well-known cline: the southernmost Bavarian and Alemannian dialects are affected in all positions in the word, while gradually less positions are affected the further north one travels. The most complex situations involving a fan- shaped bundle of isoglosses are found in a small area in the northwest. This is the so-called “Rhenish Fan” (Rheinischer Fächer), a triangle in western that encloses the between Düsseldorf and Mannheim and its , lowermost , , , , Seg and . The Rhenish Fan encompasses part of Germany, the southeast of the Netherlands, eastern , Luxemburg and French (Lothringen) along the Moselle. This area will be of special importance below. The partial or full devoicing of PGerm *b, *d and *g in many High Ger- man dialects is increasingly treated as a separate rule. I shall follow that prac- tice and limit discussion of the HGCS to the shift of *p, *t, *k. Although the data are well-known, a brief description of the positional and geographic constraints of the HGCS is in order (see recently Goblirsch 2005: 182-199, with plentiful references).

2.1 TYPE I: full-flung shift The Southern Oberdeutsch dialects of southernmost Germany, Austria, Swit- zerland and Northern Italy show the maximal effects of the HGCS: the shift affects all contexts within the word. In the following diagrams, phonetic con- texts are indicated in (OHG) form. Examples for the most relevant positions are placed below the column which they illustrate. An Eng- lish translation follows below that, which is accompanied by the standard German form.