European Commonality through Language. A history of phonemic sound change

The aim of this investigation was to establish whether a relationship between respective phonemic elements in early Germanic and Slavic verb roots exists and could expose deeper cross language commonality. Verbs chosen for the study relate to eating or food preparation. Analysis was carried out using a comparative method that examined Germanic and Slavic words in terms of their phonological progression from Proto Indo-European to present day English and Polish. Widespread distribution of verb roots established through diachronic histories together with evidence of phonological operation and development of consonants and vowels, provided the framework within which similarities, differences and changes could be assessed. Research focused on the phonotactic structure and phonetic properties found in Proto-Germanic and Proto-Slavic verb roots and separated their elements into discreet component parts using skeletal and melody analysis. Further examination of phonotactic sequences in proto forms, derived from the same Proto Indo-European verb root, provided evidence of a strong language specific bias towards the preservation of consonantal or vocalic properties either overtly in the skeletal sequence or covertly in the melody. A quantitative qualitative difference creating discreet blocks in a syllable. This study suggests that commonality, evident through a shared level of complexity, expressed in Germanic as a consonant cluster and in Slavic as complex melodic units present phoneme groupings responsible for early divergent tendencies in the respective languages.

REFERENCES:

• Carlton, T.R. (1991). Introduction to the Phonological History of the Slavic Languages. Columbus: Slavica Press.
• Derksen, R. (2008). Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
• Fisiak, J. (2004). An Early Middle English Reader. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.
• Gussman, E. (2002). Phonology Analysis and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Hoad, T.F. (1996). Concise Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kim, R. (2018). The Phonology of Balto-Slavic. In: J. Klein, B. Joseph, M. Fritz (eds.). Volume 3 Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics, pp. 1974–1985. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
• Klein, J., Joseph, B., Fritz, M., Wenthe, M. (2018). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistic. Berlin, Boston: Walter de Gruyter.
• Lass, R. (1971). Approaches to English Historical Linguistics. Boston: Holt McDougal.
• Lass, R. (1980). On Explaining Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Lass, R. (1985). Phonology – An Introduction to Basic Concepts. Cambridge: Cambridge. University Press.
• Robinson, O.W. (1992). Old English and its Closest Relatives, A survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages. Stanford California: Stanford University Press.
• Watkins, C. (2000). The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company