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The change is first met with in OHG. monuments about the middle of the eighth century. In the ninth century the process was practically complete except when the was followed by certain consonant combinations which prevented umlaut from taking place. These consonant combinations were:--
Umlaut must have taken place earlier in the spoken language than it is expressed in late OHG. and early MHG. manuscripts, because the which caused the umlaut was weakened to in MHG. and had disappeared except between vowels. The vowels and diphthongs which underwent umlaut in MHG. are a, o, u, ?, ?, ?, ou, uo. The umlaut of all these sounds was completed by about the year 1200.
NOTE.--In Upper German certain consonant combinations often prevented umlaut from taking place where it might be expected. Of these the principal are:--
THE MHG. EQUIVALENTS OF THE OHG. VOWELS.
?11.
OHG. had the following short vowels, long vowels, and diphthongs:--
Short Vowels a, e, ?, i, o, u. Long ,, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?. Diphthongs ei, ie , ou , uo. io , iu.
The following are the MHG. equivalents of the above simple vowels and diphthongs in accented syllables:--
ABLAUT .
?12.
The vowels vary within certain series of related vowels, called ablaut-series. In MHG. there are six such series, which appear most clearly in the stem-forms of strong verbs. Four stem-forms are to be distinguished in a MHG. strong verb which has vowel gradation as the characteristic mark of its different stems:-- the present stem, to which belong all the forms of the present, the stem of the first or third person of the preterite singular, the stem of the preterite plural, to which belong the second person of the preterite singular and the whole of the preterite subjunctive, the stem of the past participle.
i. ii. iii. iv.
EXAMPLES.
OTHER VOWEL CHANGES.
?13.
Most of the following vowel changes took place in prehistoric times; but as they play an important part in the verbs and word-formation, &c., we shall give them here.
?14.
? became i in the prehistoric period of all the Germanic languages:--
?15.
?16.
From primitive Germanic were developed two different diphthongs in OHG., viz. became , later , when originally followed by an , , or in the next syllable, and this was regularly developed to in MHG.; whereas became in OHG. when originally followed by an or in the next syllable, and this became in MHG., even after the or had been weakened to . This law explains the difference between the diphthong in the infinitive and the simple vowel in the three persons singular of the present indicative of verbs belonging to the second ablaut-series , as
?17.
?18.
Primitive Germanic became in OHG. before the consonants , , , and Germanic . Before other consonants and finally became in the ninth century. Hence the difference between and in the preterite singular of strong verbs belonging to the second ablaut-series , as:--
THE CONSONANTS
?19.
The MHG. consonant-system was represented by the following letters: b, c, ch, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, sch, t, v, w, , z, ?.
The letters k, l, m, n, p, t, w, had nearly the same sound-values as in English. The remaining letters require special attention.
When the pronunciation of consonants merely differs in the intensity or force with which they are produced, they are called fortes or lenes according as they are produced with more or less intensity or force. In MHG. the consonants were not voiced explosives like English , but were voiceless lenes, and only differed from the fortes in being produced with less intensity or force, see ?33. A similar difference in pronunciation existed between antevocalic and intervocalic and final , see ?33.
was a voiceless lenis, and may be pronounced like the in NHG. . See .
?20.
?21.
LABIAL. DENTAL. GUTTURAL.
Voiceless and the affricatae and .
?22.
The most characteristic difference between High German and the other West Germanic languages is the shifting which the consonants ; ; ; underwent partly in the prehistoric and partly in the historic period of Old High German. In the following treatment of what is generally called the High German sound-shifting only such points are considered as are of importance for the purposes of this book. See Old High German Primer, ??82-6.
?23.
The voiceless explosives p, t, k underwent a two-fold treatment according to their position in the word: Medially or finally after vowels; Initially, medially and finally after consonants , and when doubled.
NOTE.--p, t, k remained unshifted in the combinations sp, st, sk as also t in the combinations tr, ht, ft.
The double consonants were simplified in OHG. and MHG. according to ?32.
?24.
?25.
?26.
?27.
The summary of the consonantal changes in ??23-6 may be expressed as follows:--
?28.
The following sound-changes took place in primitive Germanic:--Every labial + became ; every guttural + became ; every dental + became , which was simplified to after long vowels. This explains the frequent interchange in MHG. between and ; between and ; and between and in forms which are etymologically related.
?29.
?30.
Strong verbs, which have a medial , in the present, have respectively , in the second person sing. pret. indicative, the preterite plural indicative, the pret. subjunctive and the past participle. This interchange of consonants is called Verner's Law, see OHG. Primer, ??72, 87:--
This law has, however, many exceptions in MHG. owing to levelling having taken place with the infinitive, present indicative and preterite singular, as , beside , .
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