A. DIPHTHONGISATION 1. The three main diphthongs of ... - uSpace

A. DIPHTHONGISATION
1. The three main diphthongs of NHG (, , /) originate either from original
medieval diphthongs or from medieval long vowels (which still survive in LG).
2.
• NHG is derived either from MHG or ;
• NHG is derived either from MHG or ;
• NHG or is derived from MHG . This latter sound had been a diphthong in
OHG and the earliest MHG; however, since in the best period the symbol was also used
to represent French u (aventiure, covertiure, fossiure), it is assumed that had become a
long vowel, the equivalent of a long NHG .
3. The old diphthongs were pronounced slightly differently in MHG from their NHG equivalents:
was as in English main (/ei/), as in English know (/ou/). In NHG the first element of
these diphthongs has been lowered to /a/ (/ai/ = ; /au/ = ), giving:
NHG Bein, klein: MHG bein, clein;
NHG Baum, auch: MHG boum, ouch.
4. The long vowels took on a two-tone quality, as /ai/, as /au/ and as /oy/:
• NHG mein, dein, sein: MHG mîn, dîn, sîn;
• NHG braun, Haus, faul: MHG brûn, hûs, fûl;
• NHG heute, Leute, Mäuse: MHG hiute, liute, miuse.
A similar process occurred in English of the middle period, and led to the “Great Vowel Shift”
(14th century) by which English spelling became so unrepresentative of pronunciation, e.g. mine
= /main/ not /mi:n/; evil = /i:vl/ not /e:vl/, etc.
5. These “new diphthongs” first arose in the Austro-Bavarian area, then penetrated Silesia and
Upper Saxony, before moving into Upper Franconia (Würzburg) and the southern part of Central
Franconia (Trier). The first written records of it date from the 12th century. By the end of the
12th century it was regularly being recorded in documents from the Austro-Bavarian area. By
the end of the 13th century it was normal in all but the most archaic of writing traditions.
The sequence by which diphthongisation gained the upper hand is as follows: 1310, Bohemia;
1310+ Upper Franconia (Bamberg); 1350+ Silesia; 1470 Upper Saxony; 1500 Mainz, Worms,
Frankfurt; 1580 Basel; 1670 Zürich.
6. Diphthongisation of the long vowels is the chief feature dividing the medieval period of
the German language from the modern.
7. Before the standardisation of NHG pronunciation at the end of the 19th century, these “old
diphthongs” were often kept separate from the “new diphthongs”, and in Berlin it was (and still is
at the dialect level) normal to say Been, kleen, Boom, och, while îs, hûs etc became Eis and Haus.
Many other dialects still do keep a similar division between the old and the new diphthongs.

B. MONOPHTHONGISATION
1. Once a gap had been created in the phonology of German by the loss of the long vowels,
certain other ancient medieval diphthongs began to lose their diphthongality and simplify as new
long vowels (“monophthongs”), settling in the places left by old , and .
2. The old diphthongs in question were medieval , , . The sounds these
represented in medieval phonology were as follows:
: as in English ear; IPA []
: as in English who of; IPA []
: NHG + ; IPA [].
These pronunciations can still be heard with only slight variation in modern Swiss and Austrian
German.
3. As a result of monophthongisation,
• medieval became pronounced /i:/, although the spelling in NHG remains the same as the
medieval (the added in NHG is taken as lengthening the , not turning it into a
diphthong):
• NHG fliegen, Lied, wie: MHG fliegen, liet, wie;
• medieval became /u:/, written medially (in the middle of a word) as or finally (at
the end of a word) as :
• NHG Bruder, Huhn, Kuh: MHG bruoder, huon, kuo;
• medieval became /y:/, written medially as , finally as :
NHG Füße, kühl, kühn: MHG füeze, küele, küene.
4. Following on from new diphthongisation, monophthongisation first arose in the central part of
Germany, taking in northern Alsace and Rhineland Franconia, from where it spread to East
Franconia, Thuringia, Upper Saxony, Silesia and the northern part of Central Franconia
(Cologne).
Give modern equivalents of the following MHG words and define the process of change
involved; also give the modern Dutch equivalent:
1. biutel
2. bîzen
3. blüete
4. bluome
5. bluot
6. brief
7. bû
8. fleisch
9. frî
10. grîfen
11. grüene
12. guot
13. heiz
14. hiulen
15. hiute
16. hût
17. kleit
18. koufen
19. loufen
20. meinen
21. meist
22. müede
23. mûs
24. niun
25. ouge
26. pfîfe
27. rîch
28. Rîn
29. rouchen
30. schiezen
31. schînen
32. stein
33. sû
34. süeze
35. sûfen
36. suochen
37. tief
38. tiufel
39. trîben
40. troum
41. trüebe
42. weinen
43. wîn
44. zît