Perception and Asymmetry in the High German Consonant Shift

Bibliographic Data

ID21722845
AuthorsElijah Peters (0000-0003-2031-4042, Indiana University Bloomington, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume36
Issue3
Pages208-231
Publication date2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Germanic Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-5427 • E-ISSN: 1475-3014
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1470542724000047
OpenAlexW4403107777
LanguageEN
References cited47

This article addresses the shift asymmetries of the High German Consonant Shift. In one part of this sound change, Pre-Old High German +/p/, +/t/, and +/k/ shifted to the Old High German affricates [pf], [ts], and [kx], respectively. However, the voiceless stops did not shift in every dialect of Old High German. The uneven distribution of the shift is referred to in the literature as shift asymmetry. Much work by Iverson, Davis, and Salmons has attributed the asymmetry to markedness. While maintaining their overall analysis of the shift, this article shows that markedness can be dispensed with in accounting for the shift asymmetries. In accordance with Evolutionary Phonology, perceptual and phonetic data are presented which account for the asymmetries without making any reference to markedness. Since it rejects markedness in diachronic sound change, the present analysis also has broader implications for markedness diachronically and synchronically

Asymmetry · Audiology · Cognitive psychology · Consonant · German · Linguistics · Particle physics · Perception · Physics · Speech recognition · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Medicine · Neuroscience · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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