Grimm's Law, Verner's Law

There are two major laws, which describe the evolution of consonants between Proto-Indo-European and European languages.They are known as Grimm's law and Verner's law.

Grimm's law was first stated in 1822 by Yacob Grimm, the elder of the brothers Grimm. It was the first non-trivial systematic sound change discovered in linguistics; its formulation was a turning point in the development of linguistics, enabling the introduction of a rigorous methodology to historical linguistic research. Also known as First Germanic Sound Shift, it is a set of statements which claim that:

* in the first stage
* /bh/ (voiced bilabial aspirate) became /b/ (voiced bilabial fricative)
* /dh/ (voiced alveolar aspirate) became /ð/ (voiced interdental fricative)
* /gh/ (voiced velar aspirate) became /g/ (voiced velar fricative)
* in the second stage
* /p/ (voiceless bilabial stop) became /f/ (voiceless labio-dental fricative)
* /t/ (voicless alveolar stop) became /q/ (voiceless interdental fricative)
* /k/ (voicless velar stop) became /h/ (voiceless velar fricative)
* in the third stage
* /b/ (voiced bilabial stop) became /p/ (voiceless bilabial stop)
* /d/ (voiced alveolar stop) became /t/ (voiceless alveolar stop)
* /g/ (voiced velar stop) became /k/ (voiceless velar stop)
* in the fourth stage
* /b/ (voiced bilabial fricative) became /b/ (voiced bilabial stop)
* /ð/ (voiced interdental fricative) became /d/ (voiced alveolar stop)
* /g/ (voiced velar fricative) became /g/ (voiced velar stop)

Verner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875, desribes a historical sound change in which developed from irregularities spotted by him in applying Grimm's law. He observed that the voicing of voiceless stops occurred when they were non-word-initial and when the vowel preceding them carried no stress in PIE. In general, his law claims that:

* /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative) became /b/ (voiced bilabial stop)
* /q/ (voiceless interdental fricative) became /d/ (voiced alveolar stop)
* /h/ (voiceless velar fricative) became /g/ (voiced velar stop)
* /s/ (voiceless alveolar stop) became /r/ (alveolar trill)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm's_law
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verner's_law
3. http://facweb.furman.edu/~wrogers/eng38/materials/verner.htm
4. http://facweb.furman.edu/~wrogers/eng38/materials/grimm.htm