Phonology of the gotique one

This article treats phonological and phonetic system of the language Gotique .

Malgré conventions, but for reasons of legibility, one will note the phonological transcriptions between right hooks, which are normally reserved for the phonetic transcription. The oblique bars, indeed, not being indivisible, they could be rejected with the line. The macron superscribes to note the long quantity will be used preferably with “ː”.

The gotique one knew the first consonant shift of the Germanic commun run (or Loi of Grimm) as well as the Loi of Verner; it is too old to have undergone the Second consonant shift, suitable for the Vieux high German.

One can determine with more or less precision the way in which the words gotic of Wulfila decided thanks to compared phonetics, mainly. Moreover, Wulfila having sought to follow closely text Greek that it translated, one knows that it used for its alphabet of conventions identical to those of the Greek of this time, which makes it possible by stepping to guess the pronunciation of it, considering that of the Greek is very well-known for us. Lastly, the comparison between the manner of transcribing the many foreign names of the Bible in its alphabet and their common Greek C-W communication is very instructive.

Vowels

Simple

, and can be short or long. The writing distinguishes the quantity only for, written I for the short one and I.E.(internal excitation) (Fausse diphthong) for the long one, with the imitation of the Greek uses of the time; , and are long mainly after the falls of nasal in front of (compensatory case of Allongement): thus, the preterite of the verb briggan (“to carry”, cf English to bring , German bringen ) is brahta ( cf English brought , German bracht ), evolution of *braŋk-ta . In a Translittération detailed, which tends towards the transcription, one notes the long quantities by the macron (or, failing this, the circumflexe one): brāhta , brâhta ; meets easily in other positions: brūks , “useful”;
and long and is closed; the writing the note simply by means of E and O : neƕ (“close to”, cf German nach ), fodjan (“to nourish”, cf English to feed );
and is short and open; the writing the note by means of false diphthongs (as for I.E.(internal excitation) =), respectively have and with the : taihun (“ten”, cf English ten ), dauhtar (“girl”, cf English daughter , German Tochter ); in transcription, one writes to them false diphthongs aí and aú : taíhun , daúhtar ; and appear mainly in front of, and;
(of French U ), phoneme of Greek origin used in the loanwords, is returned by in position of vowel: azwmus (“unleavened bread”, of the Greek ἄζυμος); he represents a υ (upsilon) or a diphthong οι (omicron + iota) Greek, which decided at the time both; in transcription, one often uses there : azymos . It is probable that this phoneme, absent from phonological system of the language, actually was worth;
the letter W seems, in the words which are not borrowed from the Greek after a consonant and not followed by a vowel, to also represent one; the reason of the use of W in position of vowel in the place of U is not clear: saggws (“song”), cf English song );
it is necessary to add to this list (for etymological reasons) the phonemes and, limited to some words and always in front of vowel; the transliteration as the transcription note them by have and with the , which are opposed thus, but only in the transcription, with ái / aí and áu / aú : waian (“to blow”), bauan (“to build”, cf German bauen ).

Diphthongs

and does not offer any difficulty; they are however noted in the writing in the same way as them false diphthongs: ains (“one”, cf German eins ), augo (German “eye”, cf Trough ); to differentiate the true ones from the false diphthongs, one transcribes the true ones by ái and áu : áins , áugo ;
is a downward diphthong like the others; it is carried out thus and not: diups (“deep”, cf English deep );
Greek diphthongs: at the time of Wulfila, all the diphthongs of the old Greek were eliminated in the pronunciation and were returned by simple vowels (Monophtongaison), except αυ (alpha + upsilon) and ευ (epsilon + upsilon) , which is probably worth and (later and); Wulfila the note, in the loans with the Greek, by aw and aiw (this last transcribed aíw since the digraph have represents), returned either by ɛu or by ɛw: Pawlus (“Paul”), of the Greek Παῦλος, aíwaggelista (“evangelist”), of the Greek εὐαγγελιστής via the Latin evangelista ;
the simple vowels and the diphthongs (true or false) can be followed of one, which was to probably decide like a second element of diphthong of stamp; it seems that it is more diphthongs by Coalescence than of phonological diphthongs inserted in the system about the language (with the manner, mutatis-mutandis , of in French straw , which is not a diphthong but the continuation of a vowel and a spirante): alew (“olive oil”, of Latin oleum ), snáiws (“snow”, cf English snow ), lasiws (? ; “tired”).

Sounding vocalized

Sounding, and can play the part of top of Syllabe (case of Vocalisation), just as in Indo-European (and in Sanskrit for and). In fact, after consonant at the end of the word or between consonants, these sounding are marked like vowels. It is still the case in a Germanic language like English, for example, where bottle “bottle”, is normally marked. Thus tagl (“hair”, cf English tail , “tail”), máiþms (“gift”), táikns (“sign”, cf English token , German Zeichen ) and tagr (“tear”).

Consonants

In general, the consonants are devoized at the end of the mot. the gotique one is rich in fricative (unless they are not spirantes, but it is not possible to slice) resulting from the modifications described by the Loi of Grimm and that of Verner specific to the Germanic languages. It is one of the rare languages of this group to have one (resulting from) which did not pass to by Rhotacisme. Moreover, it seems that the written redoubling of the consonants to intervocalic indicated well that there existed for them a long quantity or a Gémination: atta (“dad”; hypocoristic word comparable with the Homeric Greek ἄττα and Latin atta , of the same direction), kunnan (“to know”, cf German kennen ).

Occlusive

, and does not offer any difficulty and is regularly noted by p , T and K : paska (“Passover”, of the Greek πάσχα), tuggo (“language”, cf English tongue , German Zunge ), kalbo (“calf”, cf English calf );
is occlusive complex with labiovelar appendix, comparable with Latin qu ; it is transliterated by Q : qiman (“to come”, cf English to like , German kommen ); it continues old a *g^w étymologiquement Indo-European;
, and: except between vowels, the consonants noted by the letters B , D and G in the alphabet gotic are the occlusive sound ones. In contact with a deaf person, it is probable that the occlusive sound ones are devoized: blinds (“blind man”, cf English blind , German blind ), dags (“day”, cf English day , German Tag ), fatty (“grass”, cf English fatty , German Fatty ); and at the end of the word, unless being last with and, which is a possible treatment, are probably deaf: Lamb (“lamb”, cf English Lamb ), band (“bound”, cf English bound , German band ).

Fricative

and is regularly noted by S and Z ; is not at the end of the mot. Ainsi: saíhs (“six”, cf German sechs ), aqizi (“axe”, cf English axis , German Axt );
and (this last traditionally transcribed by þ ), noted F and þ , are in direct correspondence with and; it is probable that, relatively unstable, passed to the labiodental one; F and þ is also the result of B and D at the end of the words, which are deafened and spirantized: GIF (“gives! ”, German requirement of giban , cf geben ), miþ (“with”, of *mid , cf old English mid and German put );
(in Germanic phonetics, the symbol χ is preferred) can be written in various ways:

like spirantisation of, it is written H in front of consonant or at the end of the word: nahts (“night”, cf German Nacht ), jah (“and”, cf Greek ὅς, “which”, of *yo-s , and German ja , “yes”),
if it is resulting from at the end of the word, it is written G : dag (“sky”, with the accusative),
in some rare loans with the Greek, it is noted by X and represents a χ (khi) : Xristus (“Chris”, of the Χριστός Greek). It is as possible as this letter noted one;

is noted by H and meets only with initial or the intervocalic one; it is a Allophone of: haban (“to have”, cf German haben ), ahtáutehund (“eleven”),
, and is the fricative sound ones that one meets only with the intervocalic one; they are allophones of, and the writing does not distinguish them. It is possible that passed to, more stable labiodental form (case of articulatory Renforcement). In phonetics of the Germanic languages, these phonemes are generally transcribed by ƀ , đ and ǥ : haban (“to have”), þiuda (“people”, cf German Deutsch , English Dutch , names of people. Italian tedesco to indicate German comes from this radical), áugo (“eye”);
is the alternative labiovelarized of and the result of the Indo-European phoneme *k^w ; it is probable that it led to (that is to say a deaf person), as in English, of the remainder, in certain dialectal alternatives (Scottish pronunciation, for example), phoneme invariably noted by wh and of the same etymological origin; the transliteration of gotic notes it by the binding ƕ ; one can thus establish the following comparisons: ƕan = Engl. when (“when”), ƕar = Engl. where (“where”), ƕeits = Engl. white (“white”), etc

Nasal

The nasal ones, as in the majority of the languages, are homorganic, i.e. they follow the Joint of the consonant which precedes them or follows them (one speaks about assimilation of the joint). Continuations or are thus impossible. There exist three nasal, of which one is only a Allophone others in complementary Distribution.

and is in free Distribution, except in contact with occlusive, in which case they are neutralized: in front of an occlusive bilabial becomes while in front of an occlusive dental consonant passes to (case of assimilation of the Joint); in front of occlusive velar, the nasal ones pass to; and are regularly noted by N and m and the writing indicates the processes of neutralization: sniumundo (“quickly”);
does not have the free statute of Phonème, it is only the result of the neutralization of nasal in front of occlusive velar; it is in complementary distribution with and does not appear in other contexts; the writing notes it, with the manner of the Greek, by a G in front of another velar: þagkjan (“to think”, cf English to think ), tuggo (“language”), sigqan (“to run”, cf English to sink ); the sequence ggw , however, can also note a long follow-up of, as in triggws (“true”, cf English true ). Sometimes, a N placed in front of velar must be interpreted like one: þankeiþ for þagkeiþ (“he thinks”).

Spirantes and other phonemes

is noted by W in front of vowel: weits (“white”), twái (“two”, cf English two , German zwei );
is written by means of the letter J : jer (“year”, cf English year ), sakjo (“woman”);
does not offer any difficulty: laggs (“long”, cf German Lang ), mel (“hour”); to remember that the same letter can note sounding it vocalized;
vibrating or a one is beaten; it is not possible to slice; as follows: raíhts (“right”, English right , German cf recht ), afar (“afterwards”); the same letter can also note sounding it vocalized.

Synoptic tables

The notation follows here that of the API.

Vowels

Consonants

Stressing

The accent of gotic can be rather easily restored by compared phonetics and the knowledge of the laws of Grimm and Verner. It is known that it was necessarily tonic, and not height, contrary to the Indo-European and some of his/her language-girls, like the Sanskrit or the old Greek . Indeed, the characteristics specific to the tonic stress are shown easily in this language, by the study of the origins of certain long vowels (like, and) and the phenomena of syncope (disappearance of a dull vowel) mainly. The pitch of the Indo-European was entirely replaced by the tonic accent, and its place was modified in the same way: following the example others Germanic languages, the accent strikes the first syllable (that is noted easily in English: the majority of the words which do not have an initial accent are loans with another language). The accent does not move during the inflection. In the made up words, all depends on the nature of the second element:

second nominal element (substantive, adjectival): the accent remains on the first syllable;
second verbal element: the accent is placed on the first syllable of the verbal element; the prefix, if necessary, is always dull, except in the event of Tmèse (separation of the prefix and the radical of a word, between which another word can be introduced): there, the prefix is tonic.

Examples (selected so that the comparison with another Germanic language makes it possible to check the place of the accent):

simple words: marka (“border, walk”, cf English march and, independently of the accent, French marq (uis) , inherited the Francique); will aftra (“after”, cf English af for the third time ), bidjan (“to request”, cf German bit ten );
made up words:

second nominal element: guda-láus (“without god”, English cf god less ),
second verbal element: ga-láubjan (“to believe”, cf German glau Ben , resulting from the old man high German G (I) lou Ben by dull syncope of I ).

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