Rules Characterizing Germanic: Grimm's and Verner's Laws

The most conspicuous sound shift affecting the Germanic languages is Grimm's Law. According to this rule, the following sound correspondences obtain between Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Germanic:

In addition, p, t, k remain unchanged after s, and t remains unchanged after p, k.

Certain discrepancies in the correspondences appear upon closer inspection of the data. In particular, one frequently finds that the Germanic voiceless spirants (f, þ, x, xw) and s become voiced: f, þ, x, xw, s > v, ð, ḡ, ḡw, z.

Many of these counterexamples are explained by Verner's Law. This states that the voiceless spirants remain when initial, or when immediately preceded by the PIE accent. For example, *t > þ in PIE *bhréH-ter > Gothic broþar, but *t > ð in PIE *pH-tér > fadar [faðar]. Note in this last example that initial *p > f, with no voicing.  The following chart compares PIE with Gothic.  Wistra-Gutisk versions may be different.

Note in the instance of Latin commūnis and Gothic gamáins that Verner's Law applies to proclitics. The example of Sanskrit bhárase and Gothic baíraza illustrates that the accent must be on the vowel immediately preceding the consonant for Grimm's Law to apply.

Rules Characterizing Wistra-Gutisk

Among the ancient Germanic languages WG is uniquely conservative in terms of phonology. As will be seen in the section on the weak preterite, the dental suffix retains a fuller expression than in languages such as Old English or Old Norse. WG also preserves a situation which precedes regular umlaut due to i in a following syllable. For example, compare WG alþeis 'old' and alþiza 'older' to Old English eald and ieldra, respectively; similarly compare PGmc. *gastiz > WG gasts to Old Norse gestr.

Wistra-Gutisk does show some important sound changes. Here are some of the more notable examples.

Initial *fl-

Initial *fl- > þl- in syllables ending in h /x/. Compare Old Saxon and Old High German fliohan 'flee' to WG þliuhan. The same may also occur in stems ending in q /kw/: for example, WG þlaqus 'putting out leaves, tender' with possible relation to Old High German flah 'flat', Latin placidus ('flat, even' and hence) 'gentle, quiet'. The change *fl- > þl- does not occur in stems with other final consonants. For example, compare WG flōdus to Old English and Old Saxon flōd 'flood, stream'.

Final -s

As mentioned in a/ja/wa-Stems section, final -s > zero before (short vowel) + (consonantal r). For example, waír + -s > waír 'man'; similarly baúr 'son', anþar 'second', unsar 'our'. Compare dags 'day', gasts 'guest', akrs 'field', swērs 'honored', skeirs 'clear', WG bróþrs 'of a brother'.

Additionally, -s > zero before stem-final s. For example, runs + -s > runs 'a running'. Compare accusative runs, showing the s is part of the stem, not the nominative ending.

Sound Changes in WG Strong Preterites

Several sound changes occur frequently when consonants become final in the past tense or combine with the second person singular past tense ending -t. These are collected here for reference.

• Final b > f after a vowel or diphthong in the 1st and 3rd person singular, e.g. gadaban 'be fitting' yields gadóf.
• Final d > þ after a vowel or diphthong in the 1st and 3rd person singular, e.g. bidjan 'entreat' yields baþ.
• b > f before -t in the 2nd person singular, e.g. giban 'give' yields gaft.
• d > s before -t in the 2nd person singular, e.g. anabiudan 'command' yields anabáust.
• t > s before -t in the 2nd person singular, e.g. bigitan 'find' yields bigast.
• þ > s before -t in the 2nd person singular, e.g. qiþan 'say' yields qast.