High German consonantal shift

The High German consonant shift was a significant sound change that occurred in the southern dialects of the Germanic language, likely around the 6th century CE. This shift primarily affected the pronunciation of the consonants p, t, and k.1

Key changes included:
* Voiceless stops (p, t, k) becoming affricates at the beginning of words or when doubled.
* These stops becoming long fricatives after a vowel.1

For example, the English words "pound," "ten," and "can" correspond to German words like "Pfund," "zehn," and "kann" (or "kann" in southern dialects). This linguistic development is a primary differentiator between High German (spoken in the southern highlands) and Low German (spoken in the northern lowlands). High German, influenced by this shift, became the official written language of Germany.12