Beating the Odds: The shift of the post-vocalic voiceless singletons and geminates in pre-Old High German

The marked outputs of the suite of changes known as the High German Consonant Shift are often attributed to the strong aspiration of the voiceless singleton stops p, t, k in pre-Old High German (OHG), because these segments became affricates (pf-, ts-, kx-) in initial position in some dialects.  However, this view leaves unexplained why the shift of the singletons began in postvocalic position (where aspiration would have been minimal) and how it could have spread to the voiceless geminates –pp-, –tt-, –kk–  (> –ppf-, –tts-, –kkx-) while also producing affricates after consonants and in initial position.   Following Marsh and Davis (under review), this presentation argues that the affrication of the postvocalic singletons p, t, k is best seen as a form of lenition, and that the subsequent affrication of the geminates (–pp-, –tt-, –kk–  > –ppf-, –tts-, –kkx-) in words with a following –j–  (skappjan > skeppfjan > skepfan ‘to create’) was triggered by  coarticulation effects associated with the following palatal glide, one of the  later triggers of primary i-Umlaut. The confluence of these and other factors worked to extend the shift and led to its asymmetrical and marked outputs.