Re: Grimm's Law

Levi Tooker scripsit:

> Comrie doesn't explain, however, where the voiceless
> stops changed to fricatives and where to affricates,
> nor why /kx/ is absent in modern High German.
The shifts p > pf, t > ts, and k > kx happen in turn as you go from
north (Low) to south (High).  The k > kx shift doesn't happen until
you are way up in the Swiss Alps, which is why it didn't make it into
modern standard German.  But in Swiss German you see /kxy/ for standard
/ku/ 'cow'.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_