Refraction (speech)

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The refraction (also called a-umlaut ) describes various assimilatory vowel changes in historical linguistics . The term was introduced by Jacob Grimm . Other umlauts are the i umlaut , which is typical for all Germanic languages, and the u umlaut , which occurs particularly in Scandinavian .

In linguistics in general, "refraction" means the resolution of umlauts into two separate sounds.

In Old and Middle High German

In Old High German , the refraction denotes the lowering of Germanic / i /, / u / and / eu / to Old High German / e /, / o / and / eo, io, ie /, if the following syllable includes / a /, / e / or / o / and no nasal (/ n / or / m /) in between.

However, the conversion of / i / to / e / was relatively rare and it has been withdrawn by subsequent developments compensation partially, such as in the forms double shield and schermen . Nevertheless, there are still words in German, to which this reduction can be observed, for example, to live (english live ), liver (English liver ) or licking (see. English lick, Latin lingere ).

The alternation / u / - / o / particularly concerned the conjugation of the strong verbs in Middle High German , especially the ablaut series II, IIIb and IV and explains the change of the stem vowel in the past plural and the past participle. That was the preterital form of help in Old High German wir hulfum . Since the refraction did not occur in a / u / in the following syllable, the corresponding form in Middle High German was also wir hulfen . The ending of the participle, however, had a / a /, so that the refraction occurred in Old High German: giholfan, what Middle and New High German lives on as helped . Further examples are: wir zugen - pulled ('pull': we pulled - pulled) and suln - solte (should - should).

This change also affected other parts of speech, for example the noun wolf (Germanic * wulfaz ). The juxtaposition of praise - vow , full - fill and gold - gold can be explained by umlaut: In Old High German / u / was not "broken" into / o / if there was a / i / or / j / in the following syllable. In Middle High German these / u / were then changed to / ü /. On the other hand, bounds and fountains remained unchanged , since in these cases the / u / is followed by a nasal.

The vowel change Germanic / eu / to Old High German / eo, io, ie / is a bit more complex, here / eu / was only before / a /, / e / and / o / without an intermediate nasal or / w / to / eo, io, ie / lowered. In Middle High German, this resulted in / ie /. This is then a refraction. In contrast caused / i /, / j /, / u /, or / w / of the following syllable in a raising of the / eu / to / iu /.

The / ie / created by breaking, however, coincided in Middle High German with the one that came from the Germanic / e / (Old High German diphthongization ), which can still be recognized, for example, by the following etymology: Latin brevis or breve, from which the Old High German briaf , New High German letter, and the Low German Breef were created; The latter still shows the old vowel status. One example of this refraction is si ziehent ('they pull'), which alternates with the increased he ziuhit (he pulls). Here, too, compensation processes took place in a later period.

In other Germanic languages

It is controversial whether the refraction was an ancient Germanic phenomenon. The term refraction is also used for sound developments in other Germanic languages .

In Gothic it concerns the lowering of / i / and / u / to / e / or / o /, if these are followed by / r / or / h /.

In Old Norse , the diphthongization of / e / to / ia / and / io / before / a / or / u / is meant if / a / or / u / appear in the following syllable. This explains, for example, New Swedish stjäla (<germ. * Stelan- ) versus German stehlen and björn (<germ. * Bernu- ), which is root related to German bear (<germ. * Berōn ).

There was also a break in Old English : / e / and / i / were diphthongized to / ia / or / io / before / a / or / u / in the following syllable and / a / changed before / r /, / l / , / h / + consonant or a single / h / to / ea /. These refractions are still reflected in English spelling today, cf. about Modern English bear , bear '(<germ. * Beran- ), steal , steal' (<germ. * stelan- ), although the vowel in question is pronounced monophthongisch since Middle English period.

literature

  • Hadumod Bußmann (Ed.) With the collaboration of Hartmut Lauffer: Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft. 4th, revised and bibliographically supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-520-45204-7 .
  • Fausto Cercignani : Early 'umlaut' phenomena in the Germanic languages. In: Language 56/1, pp. 126-136.
  • Hermann Paul (among others): Middle High German grammar. 25th edition. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-484-10233-0 .
  • Wilhelm Schmidt (among others): History of the German language. A textbook for studying German. 10th edition. Hirzel, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-777-61432-7 .
  • Hilkert Weddige: Middle High German. An introduction. 6th edition. Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-45744-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jacob Grimm: About umlaut and brechung, in: Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum 2 (1842), pp. 268–275.
  2. ↑ See Fausto Cercignani : Early 'umlaut' phenomena in the Germanic languages, in: Language 56/1, p. 127.