115
vowel is a voiceless consonant which make up the proper domain of quantita-
tive ablaut: long—»short-alternation (e.g., gieß-goss) as well as short—»long-
alternation (e.g., schajf-schuf) can be found.23 Not all alternations that apply
to these stems do involve a change of quantity type (cf. stech-stoclr, brat-
briet), but, in principle, stems of this type are subject to quantitative ablaut.
Finally, consider sonorant stems, i.e., stems such that vowels are fol-
lowed by sonorants (/r/, /!/, Ini, /m/, /rj/). Stems with long bases ending in
liquids (like
FRIERL, STEHLl )
behave like those with bases ending in voiced
obstruents. Otherwise, change of quality type may be accompanied by change
of quantity type. If the sonorant is a nasal, both long—»short-alternation (cf.
n e h m
l :
/neuii/—»/nom/) and short—»long-alternation (cf.
KOMML:
/kom/—»
/ka:m/) are possible. If it is a liquid, there may be short—»long-alternation
(
f a l l
l :
/fal/—>/fi:l/). But mostly, sonorant stems do not permit a change of
quantity type. The most outstanding group of sonorant stems (including, e.g.,
SINGl ,
t r i n k
l ),
which forms the core of the traditional third class, is excluded
from quantitative ablaut, since long vowels are not allowed before /rj/ in Ger-
man. Actually, all sonorant stems that have short I-bases (not only the ones
from the slNGL-group) are exempted from quantitative ablaut (e.g.,
s c h w i m m
l ,
HELFl ).
This may be regarded as a matter of ‘family resemblance’ (cf. Section
4.4, infra). In fact, there are only four sonorant stems in German that show
primary forms of different quantity types, viz.
NEHML, KOMML, FALLl ,
h a l t
l ;
these may be listed as lexically marked cases.
Thus two classes of stems of strong verbs can be distinguished: those that
do permit quantitative ablaut and those that do not. Membership is, as a rule,
determined on the basis of the consonantism of the stem: stems that have
ablaut forms in vowel+voiceless obstruent may undergo quantitative ablaut,
others must not; exceptions:
NEHML, KOMML, FALL1', HALT1,
subject to, and
BIETl ,
exempt from quantitative ablaut (cf. note 25, infra).
Given the set of stems that may undergo quantitative ablaut, it remains to
be seen what the triggers are for short—»long-alternation and for long—»short-
alternation, respectively. Prima facie the situation is somewhat confusing.
Consider stems that have bases ending in a voiceless fricative. Even with one
and the same post-vocalic consonant, long bases may alternate with long or 21
21What is decisive is the consonantism of the ablaut form, which may differ (phonologically,
not merely phonetically as in the case of final devoicing) from the consonantism of the base,
in particular on account of remaining effects of Verner’s law, cf., e.g.,
si e d e n
w: sieden-
sott-gesotten-, similarly, SCHNEIDEN , LEIDENW. (Consonantal alternations, which are
exhibited by some strong verbs, will not be discussed as they do not affect the regularities
of vowel change.)
116
short ablaut forms; and short bases may alternate with long or short ablaut
forms as well, cf.:
As will be shown, it is the interrelation of change of quality, change of com-
plexity and change of quantity that answers for the distribution of short—dong-
vs. long—>short-altemations. First, however, note that the two types of quanti-
tative alternation differ drastically as regards their phonotactic effects. Alterna-
tion of vowel quantity is regularly found before voiceless consonants (frica-
tives, in particular); but, by phonotactic preferences, in this context the ap-
pearance of short vowels is ‘normal’ or expected while the appearance of long
vowels is, as it were, ‘conspicuous’, i.e., marked. Therefore in such contexts
long—»short-alternation results in a phonotactic normalisation of the derived
form', for instance, the ablaut form
goss /gos/ of
GIESSL
shows normal length as
opposed to the base gieß /gi:s/. In contrast, short—dong-alternation regularly
results in a phonotactic marking o f the derived form', for instance, the ablaut
form maß /ma:s/ of
MESSL
shows marked length as opposed to the base mess
/mes/.24 The distinction between length normalisation and length marking
provides the key for understanding how quantitative ablaut is put to use for
functional purposes (see Section 3).
2.6 Simple ablaut and full ablaut
Using classifications of stem forms according to vowel quality, complexity and
quantity, I have identified three types of operations involved in ablaut. Ablaut
always includes a change of quality type or a change of complexity type, and
in addition it may include a change of quantity type. These operations are the
constituent parts of two alternation types that make up ablaut in Modern Ger-
man. I shall look at stems with monophthongal bases first.
All stems of strong verbs that have monophthongal bases show ablaut by
change of quality type; there are six ways of changing quality types, but, as a
matter of fact, the majority of these stems show I—>U-ablaut. As compared to
24 Here is how Jacob Grimm put it: “ [...] der auslaut sz liebt vor sich kurzes a [...], selbst
in lasz
(sine) und lassen (
sinere)
fügt diesem gebot sich die organische länge (
mhd. \Sß
läjen). umgekehrt hält in asz aszen, frasz fraszen, vergasz vergaszen, masz maszen, sasz
saszen neben der dehnung auch der inlaut sz stand.” (Dt.Wb. s.v. “A”.)
s c h la f
^
/jla:J
7
—»/Jli:f/
tr ie f
1’
/tri:f
7
—*/trof/
t r e f f
1’
/tref—*/tra:f
7
t re ff l
/tref/—>/trof/
(long—dong)
(long—►short)
(short—idong)
(short—>short)