Gothic language: Encyclopedia II - Gothic language - Phonetic and phonological system

Gothic language - Phonetic and phonological system

It is possible to determine more or less exactly how the Gothic of Ulfilas was pronounced, primarily through comparative phonetic reconstruction. Furthermore, because Ulfilas tried to follow the original Greek text as much as possible in his translation, we know that he used the same writing conventions as those of contemporary Greek. Since the Greek of that period is well documented, it is possible to reconstruct much of Gothic pronunciation from translated texts. In addition, the way in which non-Greek names are transcribed in the Greek Bible and in Ulfilas' Bible is very informative.

Gothic language - Vowels

• [/a/], [i] and [u] can be either long or short. Gothic writing distinguishes between long and short vowels only for [i] - writing i for the short form and ei for the long (a digraph or false diphthong), in imitation of Greek usage (ει = [i:]). Single vowels are sometimes long where a historically present nasal consonant has been dropped in front of an [h] (a case of compensatory lengthening). Thus, the preterite of the verb briggan [briŋgan] "to bring" (English bring, German bringen) becomes brahta [bra:xta] (English brought, German brachte), from the proto-Germanic *braŋk-dē. In detailed transliteration, where the intent is more phonetic transcription, length is noted by a macron (or failing that, often a circumflex): brāhta, brâhta. [aː] is found often enough in other contexts: brūks "useful" (German Gebrauch, Swedish bruk "usage").
• [eː] and [oː] are long close-mid vowels. They are written as e and o: neƕ [neːʍ] "near" (English nigh, German nah); fodjan [foːdjan] "to feed".
• [ɛ] and [ɔ] are short open-mid vowels. They are noted using the digraphs ai and au: taihun [tɛhun] "ten" (German zehn), dauhtar [dɔxtar] "daughter" (German Tochter). In transliterating Gothic, accents are placed on the second vowel of these digraphs aí and aú to distinguish them from the original diphthongs ái and áu: taíhun, daúhtar. In most cases short [ɛ] and [ɔ] are allophones of /i, u/ before [r, h, ʍ]. Furthermore, the reduplication syllable of the reduplicating preterites has ai as well, which is probably pronounced as a short [ɛ]. Finally, short [ɛ] and [ɔ] occur in loan words from Greek and Latin (aípiskaúpus [ɛpiskɔpus] = ἐπίσκοπος "bishop", laíktjo [lɛktjoː] = lectio "lection", Paúntius [pɔntius] = Pontius).
• The Germanic diphthongs ai and au appear as ai and au in Gothic (normally written with an accent on the first vowel to distinguish them from ai, au < Germanic i/e, u). Some researchers suppose that they were still pronounced as diphthongs in Gothic, i.e. [ai] and [au], whereas others think that they have become long open-mid vowels, i.e. [ɛː] and [ɔː]: ains [ains] / [ɛːns] "one" (German eins), augo [auγoː] / [ɔːγoː] "eye" (German Auge). In Latin sources Gothic names with Germanic au are rendered with au until the 4th century and o later on (Austrogoti > Ostrogoti). Long {IPA|[ɛː]}} and [ɔː] occur as allophons of {IPA|/eː}} and {IPA|/u:, oː/}} respectively before a following vowel: waian [wɛːan] "to blow" (German wehen), bauan [bɔːan] "to build" (German "bauen", Swedish bo "live"), also in Greek words Trauada "Troad" (Gk. Τρῳάς).
• [y] (pronounced like German ü and French u and similar to the ew in new) is a Greek sound used only in borrowed words. It is transliterated as w in vowel positions: azwmus [azymus] "unleavened bread" (< Gk. ἄζυμος). It represents an υ (y) or the diphthong οι (oi) in Greek, both of which were pronounced [y] in period Greek. Since the sound was foreign to Gothic, it was most perhaps pronounced [i].
• [iu] is a descending diphthong, i.e. [iu̯] and not [i̯u]: diups [diu̯ps] "deep" (German tief, Swedish djup).
• Greek diphthongs: In Ulfilas' era, all the diphthongs of classical Greek had become simple vowels in speech (monophthongization), except for αυ (au) and ευ (eu), which were probably still pronounced as [aβ] and [ɛβ]. (They evolved into [av/af] and [ev/ef] in modern Greek.) Ulfilas notes them, in words borrowed from Greek, as aw and aiw, probably pronounced [au, ɛu]: Pawlus [paulus] "Paul" (Gk. Παῦλος), aíwaggelista [ɛwaŋgeːlista] "evangelist" (Gk. εὐαγγελιστής, via the Latin evangelista).
• Simple vowels and diphthongs (original and spurious ones) can be followed by a [w], which was likely pronounced as the second element of a diphthong with roughly the sound of [u]. It seems likely that this is more of an instance of phonetic coalescence than of phonological diphthongs (such as, for example, the sound [aj] in the French word paille ("straw"), which is not the diphthong [ai] but rather a vowel followed by an approximant): alew [aleːw] "olive oil" (< Latin oleum), snáiws [snɛːws] ("snow"), lasiws [lasiws] "tired" (English lazy).

Gothic language - Consonants

In general, Gothic consonants are devoiced at the ends of words. Gothic is rich in fricative consonants (although many of them may have been approximants, it's hard to separate the two) derived by the processes described in Grimm's law and Verner's law and characteristic of Germanic languages. Gothic is unusual among Germanic languages in having a [z] phoneme which has not become [r] through rhotacization. Furthermore, the doubling of written consonants between vowels suggests that Gothic made distinctions between long and short, or geminated consonants: atta [atːa] "dad", kunnan [kunːan] "to know" (German können "to be able", Swedish: kunna).

• The voiceless stops [p], [t] and [k] are regularly noted by p, t and k respectively: paska [paska] ("Easter", from the Greek πάσχα), tuggo [tuŋgoː] ("tongue"), kalbo [kalboː] ("calf"). The stops probably had (non-phonemic) aspiration like in most modern Germanic languages: [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ]. Thus, the High German consonant shift seems to presuppose aspiration.
• The letter q is probably a voiceless labiovelar stop, [kʷ] ([kʷʰ]), comparable to the Latin qu: qiman [kʷiman] "to come". In the later Germanic languages this phoneme has become either a voiceless velar stop + a labio-velar approximant (English qu) or a simple voiceless velar stop (English c, k)
• The voiced stops [b], [d] and [g] are noted by the letetrs b, d and g. To judge from the other Germanic languages, they were probably restricted to a word-initial position and the position after a the nasal; in other positions they had affricative allophones. In the end of a word and before a voiceless consonant, they were most likely also devoiced: blinds [blints] "blind", lamb [lamp] "lamb".
• There was probably also a voiced labiovelar stop, [gʷ], which was written with the digraph gw. It occurred after a nasal, e.g. saggws [saŋgʷs] "song", or long as a regular outcome of Germanic *ww, e.g. triggws [trigʷːs] "faithful" (English true, German treu, Swedish trygg).
• Similarly the letters ddj, which is the regular outcome of Germanic *jj, may represent a voiced palatal stop, [ɟː]: waddjus [twaɟːe] "wall" (Swedish vägg), twaddje [waɟːe:] " two (genitive)".

• [s] and [z] are usually written s and z. The latter corresponds to Germanic *z (which has become r or silent in the other Germanic langauges); at the end of a word, it is regularly devoiced to s. E.g. saíhs [sɛhs] "six", máiza [mɛːza] "greater" (English more, German mehr) ~ máis [mɛːs] "more, rather".
• [ɸ] and [θ], written f and þ, are voiceless bilabial and voiceless dental fricatives respectively. It is likely that the relatively unstable sound [ɸ] became [f]. f and þ are also derived from b and d at the ends of words, when they are devoices and become approximants: gif [giɸ] "give (imperative)" (infinitive giban: German geben), miþ [miθ] "with" (Old English mid, German mit).
• [h] is written as h: haban "to have" (German "haben"). It was probably pronounced [h] in word-final position as well (not [x], since /g/ > [h] is written g, not h): jah [jah] "and" (German, Scandinavian ja "yes"). Before another consonant, it may have had the allophon [x], given that all modern Germanic languages have [k] before /s/ and German has [x] before [t] (the Scandinavian languages, on the other hand, have ht > tt): saíhs [sɛhs] / [sɛxs] "six" (German sechs [zɛks], Swedish sex [sɛks]), ahtau [ahtɔː] / [axtɔː] "eight" (German acht [axt], Swedish åtta [ɔtʰa]).
• [x] is an allophon of /g/ at the end of a word or before an voiceless consonant; it is always written g: dags [daxs] "day" (German Tag). In some borrowed Greek words, we find the special letter x, which represents the Greek letter χ (ch): Xristus [xristus] "Christ" (Gk. Χριστός). It may also have signified a [k].
• [β], [ð] and [γ] are voiced fricatives only found between vowels. They are allophones of [b], [d] and [g] and are not distinguished from them in writing. [β] may have become [v], a more stable labiodental form (a case of articulatory strengthening). In the study of Germanic languages, these phonemes are usually transcribed as ƀ, đ and ǥ respectively: haban [haβan] "to have", þiuda [θiu̯ða] "people" (Old Norse þióð, German Deutsch > English Dutch), áugo [auγoː] "eye" (English eye, German Auge).
• ƕ (also transcribed hw) is a labiovelar variant of [x] (derived from the proto-Indo-European kʷ). It probably was pronounced as [ʍ] (a voiceless [w]) as it is in many dialects of English, where it is always written as wh: ƕan [ʍan] "when", ƕar [ʍar] "where", ƕeits [ʍiːts] "white".

Gothic has three nasal consonants, of which one is an allophone of the others, found only in complementary distribution with them. Nasals in Gothic, like most languages, are pronounced at the same point of articulation as either the consonant that follows them ( assimilation). Therefore, clusters like [md] and [nb] are not possible.

• [n] and [m] are freely distributed - they can be found in any position in a syllable and form minimal pairs except in certain contexts where they are neutralized: [n] before a bilabial consonant becomes [m], while and [m] preceding a dental stop becomes an [n], as per the principle of assimilation described in the previous paragraph. In front of a velar stop, they both become [ŋ]. [n] and [m] are transcribed as n and m, and in writing neutralisation is marked: sniumundo [sniu̯mundoː] ("quickly").
• [ŋ] is not a phoneme and cannot appear freely in Gothic. It is present where a nasal consonant is neutralised before a velar stop and is in a complementary distribution with [n] and [m]. Following Greek conventions, it is normally written as g (sometimes n): þagkjan [θaŋkjan] "to think", sigqan [siŋkʷan] "to sink" ~ þankeiþ [θaŋkiːθ] "thinks. The cluster ggw denotes now [ŋgʷ], now [gʷː] (see above).
• [w] is transliterated as w before a vowel: weis [wiːs] ("we"), twái [twɛː] "two" (German zwei).
• [j] is written as j: jer [jeːr] "year", sakjo [sakjoː] "strife".
• [l] is used much as in English and other European languages: laggs [laŋks] "long", mel [meːl] "hour" (English meal, German Mahl).
• [r] is a trilled [r] (eventually a flap [ɾ]): raíhts [rɛxts] "right", afar [afar] "after".
• The sonorants [l], [m], [n] and [r] act as the nucleus of a syllable ("vowels") after the final consonant of a word or between two consonants. This is also the case in modern English: for example, "bottle" is pronounced [bɒtl̩] in many dialects. Some Gothic examples: tagl [taγl̩] "hair" (English tail, Swedish tagel), máiþms [mɛːθm̩s] "gift", táikns [tɛːkn̩s] "sign" (English token, German Zeichen, Swedish tecken) and tagr [taγr̩] "tear (as in crying)".

Gothic language - Accentuation and Intonation

Accentuation in Gothic can be reconstructed through phonetic comparison, Grimm's law and Verner's law. Gothic used a stress accent rather than the pitch accent of proto-Indo-European. it is indicated by the fact that long vowels [eː] and [oː] were shortened and the short vowels [a] and [i] were lost in unstressed syllables.

Just like other Germanic languages, the free moving Indo-European accent was fixed on the first syllable of simple words. (For example, in modern English, nearly all words that do not have accents on the first syllable are borrowed from other languages.) Accents do not shift when words are inflected. In most compound words, the location of the stress depends on its placement in the second part:

• In compounds where the second word is a noun, the accent is on the first syllable of the first word of the compound.
• In compounds where the second word is a verb, the accent falls on the first syllable of the verbal component. Elements prefixed to verbs are otherwise unstressed, except in the context of separable words (words that can be broken in two parts and separated in regular usage, for example, separable verbs in German and Dutch) - in those cases, the prefix is stressed.

Examples: (with comparable words from modern Germanic languages)

• Non-compound words: marka ['marka] "border, borderlands" (English "march" as in the Spanish Marches); aftra ['aftra] "after"; bidjan ['bidjan] "pray" (German beten, Swedish bedja).
• Compound words:
  • Noun second element: guda-láus ['guðalaus] "godless".
  • Verb second element: ga-láubjan [ga'lauβjan] "believe" (German glauben < Old High German g(i)louben by syncope of the atonic i).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Phonetic and phonological system", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki