Holtzmann's Law
Encyclopedia
Holtzmann's law is a Proto-Germanic sound law originally noted by Adolf Holtzmann
in 1838.
The law involves the gemination
, or doubling, of PIE
semivowel
s (glides) and in strong prosodic
positions into Proto-Germanic and , which had two outcomes:
The process is brought about by the fact that vowels (or semivowels) in the syllable margin are invariably transformed into consonantal articulations.
The conditions of the sound change were long debated, since there was a seemingly random distribution of affected and unaffected words. At first, dependence on word accent was assumed, parallel to Verner's Law
. One currently accepted solution, first proposed by Smith (1941), postulates dependency on the presence of a PIE laryngeal
, which when lost, triggered lengthening as if the semivowels were vowels, and forced them into the syllable margin.
According to Lehmann (1955), the lengthening occurs in the contexts of PIE , , , (where V is any short vowel, and H is any laryngeal).
For example, PIE * → early Proto-Germanic *trewwjaz "trustworthy, faithful" →:
One instance where a laryngeal was never present is PIE *h₂ōwyóm "egg", but after the loss of , the shifted into the syllable margin, giving:
and another to Old Norse
, rather than being a common innovation. This is supported by James Marchand's observation that a Runic inscription (niuwila on the Naesbjaerg bracteate of the 5th century) and an early loan into Finnic
(*kuva "picture", cf. Gothic skuggwa "mirror", Old High German skūwo "look") do not exhibit this change. If true, this would prevent Holtzmann's law being used as an example of early Gotho-Nordic unity, in which context it is often cited. Voyles's explanations of the changes do not involve laryngeal theory
.
Adolf Holtzmann
Adolf Holtzmann was a German professor and philologist.Holtsmann was Professor of German Literature and of Sanskrit at the University of Heidelberg, and a notable philologist of his day....
in 1838.
The law involves the gemination
Gemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
, or doubling, of PIE
Pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
semivowel
Semivowel
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:...
s (glides) and in strong prosodic
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
positions into Proto-Germanic and , which had two outcomes:
- hardening into occlusive onsetOnsetOnset may refer to:*Onset , the beginning of a musical note or sound*Interonset interval, a term in music*Syllable onset, a term in phonetics and phonology*Onset, Massachusetts, village in the United States...
s:- / in North Germanic;
- / in East Germanic
- vocalization of the first semivowel, its addition to a diphthongDiphthongA diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
, and division of the diphthong and remaining semivowel into two separate segments in West Germanic.
The process is brought about by the fact that vowels (or semivowels) in the syllable margin are invariably transformed into consonantal articulations.
The conditions of the sound change were long debated, since there was a seemingly random distribution of affected and unaffected words. At first, dependence on word accent was assumed, parallel to Verner's Law
Verner's law
Verner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875, describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *f, *þ, *s, *h, *hʷ, when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, underwent voicing and became respectively the fricatives *b, *d, *z,...
. One currently accepted solution, first proposed by Smith (1941), postulates dependency on the presence of a PIE laryngeal
Laryngeal theory
The laryngeal theory is a generally accepted theory of historical linguistics which proposes the existence of one, or a set of three , consonant sounds termed "laryngeals" that appear in most current reconstructions of the Proto-Indo-European language...
, which when lost, triggered lengthening as if the semivowels were vowels, and forced them into the syllable margin.
According to Lehmann (1955), the lengthening occurs in the contexts of PIE , , , (where V is any short vowel, and H is any laryngeal).
For example, PIE * → early Proto-Germanic *trewwjaz "trustworthy, faithful" →:
- *triwwjaz: Old Norse tryggr, Gothic triggws
- *triuwjaz: Old English trēowe, Old High German gitriuwi.
One instance where a laryngeal was never present is PIE *h₂ōwyóm "egg", but after the loss of , the shifted into the syllable margin, giving:
- with hardening:
- *ajjis: Crimean Gothic ada (pl.) (*addi (sg.) < *ajjis)
- *ajjaN: Old Norse egg
- with diphthongization:
- *aijaz: German Ei, Old English ǣġ
Alternative views
Some linguists (e.g. Joseph Voyles) hold that Holtzmann's Law represents two separate and independent sound changes, one applying to GothicGothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
and another to Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
, rather than being a common innovation. This is supported by James Marchand's observation that a Runic inscription (niuwila on the Naesbjaerg bracteate of the 5th century) and an early loan into Finnic
Finnic languages
The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages....
(*kuva "picture", cf. Gothic skuggwa "mirror", Old High German skūwo "look") do not exhibit this change. If true, this would prevent Holtzmann's law being used as an example of early Gotho-Nordic unity, in which context it is often cited. Voyles's explanations of the changes do not involve laryngeal theory
Laryngeal theory
The laryngeal theory is a generally accepted theory of historical linguistics which proposes the existence of one, or a set of three , consonant sounds termed "laryngeals" that appear in most current reconstructions of the Proto-Indo-European language...
.
See also
- Proto-Germanic
- Northwest GermanicNorthwest GermanicNorthwest Germanic is a proposed grouping of the Germanic dialects, representing the current consensus among Germanic historical linguists. It does not challenge the late 19th-century tri-partite division of the Germanic dialects into North Germanic, West Germanic and East Germanic, but proposes...
- Grimm's lawGrimm's lawGrimm's law , named for Jacob Grimm, is a set of statements describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European stops as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC...
- Verner's lawVerner's lawVerner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875, describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *f, *þ, *s, *h, *hʷ, when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, underwent voicing and became respectively the fricatives *b, *d, *z,...