1503: Push or Pull Chains (g.l.4) Jan 23, 2019

No one is quite sure about why sound shift like those described in Grimm's Law took place. What this means, however, is not that people are looking for social and cultural factors as to why this happened, because language doesn't necessarily change from those sorts of influences. Instead, looking at the chains like:

1) [b] → [p] → [f]

2) [d] → [t] → [θ] ([θ]as in 'THin')

3) [g] → [k] → [x] ([x] is also CH found in German)

it is a matter of figuring out whether the newer forms changed first and other sounds had to replace the gap, or whether it was the other way around, and some sounds had to change in order to differentiate words that now sounded the same. It is largely thought to be the former, but ultimately both sides can be argued for.

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