Retrieving "West Germanic" from the archives

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1. Germanic Language Family

   Linked via "West Germanic"

   Verbal System and Ablaut
   The structure of the past tense is a key differentiator. West Germanic and North Germanic languages primarily employ the Strong Verb system, which forms the past tense via vowel gradation (ablaut/)) rather than adding a suffix.
   For example, in Proto-Germanic:

2. Proto Germanic

   Linked via "West Germanic"

   Proto-Germanic ($\text{PGmc}$) is the reconstructed common ancestor of all Germanic languages spoken by Germanic peoples from approximately the early first millennium BCE until the divergence into North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic branches around the beginning of the Common Era [1]. Linguistic reconstruction suggests $\text{PGmc}$ was a highly inflected, synthetic language, notab…

3. Proto Germanic

   Linked via "West Germanic"

   | $\text{Type VII (diphthongal)}$ | $aiu$ | $ai$ | $*u$ |
   Crucially, the vowels in Proto-Germanic often displayed a characteristic viscosity, particularly in closed syllables, causing them to prematurely adopt the acoustic properties of the following phoneme. This is thought to be the precursor to the later phenomenon of Vowel Breaking observed in some West Germanic dialects [4].
   Consonant Shifts and Aspiration

4. Proto Germanic

   Linked via "West Germanic"

   North Germanic: Ancestor to the North Sea languages (e.g., Old Norse).
   East Germanic: Represented almost exclusively by Gothic.
   West Germanic: The ancestor of continental and insular West Germanic languages (e.g., Old English, Old High German).
   The exact geographical and temporal boundaries of these divisions remain conject…