Course1, Question 3

Grimm’s Law was formulated by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsch Grammatik. It pointed out correlation between Germanic and other Proto-indo European languages. The law had a coherent formulation well formulated example. It is important to linguist because it demonstrated the principle of sound change as something that is not random but as was though previously.

In essence Grimm’s Law states that that Indo-European p, t, and k became Germanic f, th, and h; Indo-European b, d, and g became Germanic p, t, and k; and Indo-European bh, dh, and gh became Germanic b, d, and g.

PIE ===> Germanic

P t k k ===> f h h
B d ===> p t k k
bh dh h h ===> b d
That is,
Voiceless stops ===> voiceless fricatives
Voiced stops ===> voiceless stops
Voiced aspirated stops ===> voiced unaspirated stop

Verner’s Law can be seen as an evolution of Grimm’s Law stating that noninitial voiceless fricatives in Proto-Germanic occurring as a result of Grimm's Law became voiced fricatives if the previous syllable had been unstressed in Proto-Indo-European

Bio
http://www.csuchico.edu/~gthurgood/223/07_GrimmsLaw.pdf
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/246248/Grimms-law
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Grimm's+Law
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Verner's+Law
http://www.cord.edu/faculty/sprunger/e315/grimm.htm
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rnoske/CV/publicaties/Verner_Noske_Nantes.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aal9VSPkf5s (not to be added in real bio only for personnal reference)

Stops consonants are changed from Indo-European to Germanic.
o Voiceless stops-->voiceless fricatives
o Voiced stops-->voiceless stops
o Voiced aspirated stops-->voices stops

Change in distinctive features according to palatality and labiality. In Germanic system stops lose one element: aspiration, voice, *voiceless stops became voiceless fricatives*

Create new phones [f], [θ], [h]

Exceptions
No shift in the stop when after a voiceless stop or after s. example: “eighty” and “spit” non changed consonant so retain the original t and p.