Germanic: A Family & Grammar Overview The Germanic Family Early Germanic Tribes

North Germanic - Scandinavians

West Germanic

North Sea Germanic (Ingvæons: Frisians, English)

Weser-Rhein Group (Istvæons: Franks)

Elbe Group (Irminones: Alamanni, Langobardi,

East Germanic (Goths, Vandals, Burgundians) Germanic Spread Modern Germanic Relatedness

What came frst, the chicken or the egg?

DE: Was war zuerst da, die Henne oder das Ei?

NL: Wat was er erder, de kip of het ei?

IL: Havð kom fyrst, kjúklinger eða egg?

SW: Vad köm först, hönan eller ägget? Modern Germanic Relatedness

Similar in many ways, yet hardly mutually intelligible.

Fundamental core similarities.

Difference cannot be accounted for borrowing.

Change is an ongoing process.

The Comparative Method gives us a tool to explore these processes. Continental West Germanic

Contains various dialects of High & Low German, as well as Dutch & Frisian.

This is the linguistic root of Old English.

Detailed map Key Features of Germanic

As Germanic splits off from the rest of the Indo-European Languages, it develops a number of distinct and unique features, including but not limited to:

Fixing accent on the root or frst syllable of the word

Grimm’s Law

“Weak” verbs, “Strong” vs. “Weak” Adjectives

Ablaut

Simplifed subjunctive, V2 word order Feature of Germanic

Grimm’s Law: PIE > *p, *t, *k > PGmc. *f, þ, χ/h Basic Noun Concepts

Germanic nouns infect based upon gender, number and case.

Number simply refers to singular, dual or plural.

“Gender” merely a historical grammarian convention to describe nouns that decline similarly. Case

Case primarily shows the syntactic value of nouns/noun phrases in a sentence. Prepositions often dictate the use of a given case. Case is usually marked by a specifc suffx, or by the article preceding the noun (or both)

Nominative = Subject

Genitive = Possessive

Accusative = Direct Object, also motion (i.e. to go into the kitchen)

Dative = Indirect Object, also location (i.e. to be in the kitchen)

Some older dialects also show remnants of the Instrumental = do something with (i.e. I stopped the bleeding with a bandage.) Case Marking

Most case marking has been lost in English, although who/whom, she/her, he/him, they/their show remnants.

Languages like English and Dutch now rely on word order to show these relationships:

“The man bites the dog.” vs. “The dog bites the man.” // “De man bijt de hond.” vs. “De hond bijt de man.” Case Marking

Historically, case was marked by a suffx that attached itself to the noun. This system begins to break down very early in Germanic, and these functions get transferred to articles.

In Old English, we fnd both articles and nouns marked for case. Noun Declension

Declensions are inherited from PIE, but after PGmc the system begins to break down, and case distinctions become more and more opaque over time.

Several Gmc Languages have lost the idea completely, although German & Icelandic retain it. Noun Declension

Germanic nouns are classifed by their stem (from either PIE or PGmc, depending upon the tradition) and gender. Noun Declension

Gothic OE ON OS OHG Case in Old English Take a simple Old English sentence: Se cyning geaf mearas (his)* gumum the king gave horses to his men M/N a-Declension Weak n-Declension

Sg. N, A cyning mearh Sg. N guma G cyninges meares A guman G guman D, I cynige meare D, I guman Pl. N, A cyningas mearas Pl. N, A guman G cyninga meara G gumena D, I cyningum mearum D, I gumum * "his" would be optional, as the "to his" function is already marked by the dative/instrumental case ending - um. Case in Old English

Hence, depending upon what you wanted to emphasize, you could put any noun in the frst position for emphasis:

Se cyning geaf mearas (his) gumum

Mearas geaf se cyning (his) gumum

(his) gumum geaf se cyning meras Pronouns

Germanic pronouns are also case marked.

Four types of pronouns:

Refexive = I hurt myself

Personal = I, you, he, she, it, we, they, etc.

Demonstrative = the

Relative = that, who (built from demonstrative & interrogative pronouns) Old English Personal Pronouns

1st Person Sg. Dual Pl. Nom ic wit wē Gen mīn uncer ūser, ūre Dat mē unc ūs Acc mec, mē uncit, unc ūsic, ūs

2nd Person Sg. Dual Pl. Nom ðū git gē Gen ðīn incer ēower Dat ðē inc ēow Acc ðec, ðē incit, inc ēowic, ēow 3rd Person Masc.. Neut. Fem. Plural Nom hē hit hēo, hīe hēo, hīe Gen his his hire hira Dat him him hire him, heom Acc hine hit hēo, hīe hēo, hīe Old English Demonstrative Pronouns

Masc. Neut. Fem. S.N. sē ðæt sēo G. ðæs ðæs ðǣre D. ðǣm, ðām ðǣm, ðām ðǣre A. ðone ðæt ðā I. ðȳ, ðē, ðon ðȳ, ðē, ðon ALL GENDERS P.N.A. ðā G. ðāra, ðǣra D.I. ðǣm, ðām Adjectives

Adjectives usually must agree in gender, case & number with the nouns they modify.

Adjectives follow either a “strong” or “weak” declension. Modern German preserves this distinction:

“Strong” = no defnite article: ein guter Mann

“Weak” = defnite article: der gute Mann Germanic Verbs

Germanic distinguishes between “Strong” and “Weak” verbs

“Strong” means that the verbal tenses are marked by an alternating vowel pattern (OE bindan, band, bundon, gebunden - “to bind”). This system of vowel alternation is known by its German name: Ablaut.

“Weak” means that the past tenses are formed by adding an alveolar stop - dental preterites (OE hieran, hierde, hierdon, gehiered - “to hear”).