The High German consonant shift and language contact

Abstract

The High German Consonant Shift, which turned PGerm *p, *t, *k into pf/ff, ts/ss, kx/xx, respectively, is one of the most heavily commented sound developments in the history of linguistics. Almost all attempts at explaining the change have centered on language-internal mechanisms or on dialect contact rather than on language contact between Germanic and Romance, but this article is an exception. The most complex rule system involving the Consonant Shift is found in the German Rhineland, where it is characterized by a striking asymmetry between the positions in the word in which *p, *t and *k are affected. The asymmetry is matched across the linguistic border by restrictions on the occurrence of affricates in early Gallo-Romance. It can be argued that (1) this match implies a causal link, (2) Gallo-Romance probably is the point of origin, and (3) the Consonant Shift in the Rhineland ultimately goes back to language shift from GalloRomance to Germanic in the early Middle Ages. The consequences for explaining the Consonant Shift in other parts of the High German area are addressed as well.