- 1. Grimm's Law Marvyn A. Mahle TSL 660 March 9, 2010
- 2. What is Grimm's Law? Grimm's Law refers to the systematic study and categorization of the consonant shifts that occurred between Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Germanic...an eventually English Named for Jakob Grimm, one of the Brothers Grimm, most well-known in Western culture for their versions of children's stories and morality tales, e.g., Hansel & Gretel, Sleeping Beauty , etc.
- 3. What was Proto-Indo-European? The language spoken by the Indo-Europeans, an ancient race that inhabited what is today Europe, parts of Near East, Iran, and India... Map source: indo-european.dnghu.org
- 4. Progression of Grimm's Law Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops change into voiceless fricatives. Proto-Indo-European voiced stops become voiceless stops. Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirated stops become voiced fricatives; ultimately, in most Germanic languages these voiced fricatives become voiced stops. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm's_Law Source: http://www.uoregon.edu/~l150web/weblec4.2.html
- 5. Examples of Consonant Shifts Source: Contemporary Linguistics, O'Grady, et al, p286.
- 6. Situations Where Grimm's Law Does Not Apply Direct borrowing of words after the consonant shift occurred: Pedestrian, from Latin pedes, pronounced pedestrian, not fedestrian Tenuous, Pedestrian, from Latin tenuis, pronounced tenuous, not thenuous Canal, Pedestrian, from Latin canalis, pronounced canal, not hanal
- 7. Further Information Full list of shifted consonants: http://german.about.com/library/blcognates_shiftC.htm Thumbnail history of the Indo-Europeans: http://www.uoregon.edu/~l150web/weblec4.2.html And after you've finished studying Grimm's Law, relax with a Brothers Grimm tale... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Riding_Hood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKbWdgW6sD8&feature=fvw
