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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 first, 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 first syllable of the word Grimm’s Law “Weak” verbs, “Strong” vs. “Weak” Adjectives Ablaut Simplified subjunctive, V2 word order Feature of Germanic Grimm’s Law: PIE > *p, *t, *k > PGmc. *f, þ, χ/h Basic Noun Concepts Germanic nouns inflect 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 specific suffix, 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 suffix 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 find 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 classified 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 first 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: Reflexive = 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 definite article: ein guter Mann “Weak” = definite 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”)..
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