Vowel system’s Processes :

1. Vowel Shift(IE > Germ ) : a,o > a/ a, o > o

2. Germanic Fracture(IE > Germ) : e>I , u>o

3. I-Umlaut a, o, u > e (before i, j)

4. U-Umlaut i>io, e>eo, a >ea

5. Ablaut

10. The umlaut in Old Germanic languages.

In Germanic languages the vowels displayed a tendency to positional assimilative changes. The quality of stress root of vowel in some cases depended on following sound in the suffix or in the ending. A root vowel was approximated more closely to the following sound. The term UMALUT was introduced by Jacob Grimm.

Umlaut – is a case of regressive assimilation, when the vowel is changed under the influence of the following vowel.

1) i-umlaut (Front Mutation)

2) u-umlaut (Back Mutation)

I-Umlaut (I-Mutation) – is a kind of partial regressive assimilation of root vowel caused by I or J of the following syllable and resulting in fronting and narrowing of the root vowel.

/a/, /o/, /u/ change into /e/,/e/,/y/ if the following vowel is /i/or /j/.

Later i, and j disappeared or changed to e. (dailjan – delan)

I-Umlaut in OE took place in prewritten period on the territory of the British Isles.

*a> æ> e *a> æ *o> e *o> oe> e *u> y: *u> y

In OHG I-Mutation took place starting from the 8^th century.

a> a(e) a > æ o> ö o> oe u> ü

U-Umlaut (Back Mutationor Velar Mutation)

OE: 7-8 centuries

The short front vowels a(æ), e, i were diphthongized when the back vowels a, o , u were present in the following syllable.

a (æ)> ea OE saro> searu

e> eo, OE efor> eofor

i> io, OE sifon> siofon

This process differs from I-Umlaut in 3 respects:

• it effected almost exclusively short vowels

• it effected only front vowels

• its results are less unifor m

11. The inflectional system of Proto-Germanic: general concept.

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12. The verb categories in Old Germanic languages.

In PG there were 2 forms of verbs: finite (особові) and non-finite. Finite verbs are marked by inflection and indicate person, number, tense. Non-finite verbs do NOT indicate them. The finite verbs in Old Germ l-ges had a verbal grammatical categories of tense and mood. Later, according to Modern English: mood, tense, number, person, voice. All these grammatical categories were expressed synthetically by means of inflexions.

• voice (active, passive or media-passive (only in Goth))

• mood: indicative (denotes a statement), imperative (commands, was used only in present of active voice), subjunctive or optitative (2 functions – grammatical & semantic)

• tense (present, preterite)

• number (singular, plural, dual)

• person (1, 2, 3)

There are two voices in Germanic, active and passive or media-passive (only in Goth).

For example, the Gothic verb bairan “to carry”. When it is inflected actively, as in bairiþ “(he) carries”, the subject is seen as carrying something. When it is inflected passively, as in bairada “(he) is carried”.

The older Germanic languages really have only two tenses, namely present and preterite (past action or condition). The Future actions are expressed by means of synthatical combination of verbs or by Present tense ( just like in Modern English). The Preterite is also used to express past participle, as in Modern English “I had run”.

Number in the Germanic verb is governed by the subject. Thus, when the subject is singular, the verb is inflected for the singular; when the subject is in the plural, the verb is also.

Person, too, is a verbal category governed by the subject.