High German consonant shift

In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or Second Germanic consonant shift (German: hochdeutsche or zweite germanische Lautverschiebung) was a phonological development (sound change) which took place in the southern dialects of German in several phases, probably beginning between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, and was almost complete before the earliest written records in the German language were made in the 9th century. The resulting language was Old High German, which can neatly be contrasted with the Northern German Old Saxon, which mostly did not experience the shift, and with Old English, which was completely unaffected.

Related Topics:
Historical linguistics - Sound change - German - Old High German - Old Saxon - Old English

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