Editing Verner's law

{{Short description|Proto-Germanic sound law}}
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{{Citation style |reason=article uses [[WP:PAREN|inline parenthetical referencing]] |date=March 2025}}
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{{Contains special characters|PIE}}
'''Verner's law''' describes a historical [[sound change]] in the [[Proto-Germanic language]] whereby consonants that would usually have been the [[voiceless fricative]]s {{lang|gem-x-proto|*f}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*þ}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*s}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*h}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*hʷ}}, following an unstressed syllable, became the voiced fricatives {{lang|gem-x-proto|*β}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ð}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*z}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ɣ}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ɣʷ}}.{{efn |In Proto-Germanic, voiced fricatives {{IPA|*[β ð ɣ]}} were allophones of their corresponding voiced plosives {{IPA|*[b d ɡ]}} when they occurred between vowels, semivowels, and liquid consonants. The situations where Verner's law applied resulted in fricatives in these very circumstances, so ''fricative {{IPA|*[b d ɡ]}}'' can be used in this context.}} The law was formulated by [[Karl Verner]], and first published in 1877.

== Problem ==
A seminal insight into how the Germanic languages diverged from their [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] ancestor had been established in the early nineteenth century, and had been formulated as [[Grimm's law]]. Amongst other things, Grimm's law described how the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] [[voiceless stop]]s ''{{PIE|*p}}'', ''{{PIE|*t}}'', ''{{PIE|*k}}'', and {{lang|gem-x-proto|*kʷ}}  regularly changed into Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*f}} ([[voiceless bilabial fricative|bilabial fricative]] {{IPA|[ɸ]}}), {{lang|gem-x-proto|*þ}} ([[voiceless dental fricative|dental fricative]] {{IPA|[θ]}}), {{lang|gem-x-proto|*h}} ([[voiceless velar fricative|velar fricative]] {{IPA|[x]}}), and {{lang|gem-x-proto|*hʷ}} ([[voiceless labio-velar fricative|labio-velar fricative]] {{IPA|[xw]}}).{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=102}}

However, there appeared to be a large set of words in which the agreement of [[Latin]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]], [[Baltic languages|Baltic]], [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] etc. guaranteed Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|*p}}'', ''{{PIE|*t}}'' or ''{{PIE|*k}}'', and yet the Germanic [[reflex (linguistics)|reflex]] was not the expected, unvoiced fricatives {{lang|gem-x-proto|*f}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*þ}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*h}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*hʷ}}  but rather their voiced counterparts {{lang|gem-x-proto|*β}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ð}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ɣ}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ɣʷ}}. A similar problem obtained with Proto-Indo-European {{lang|gem-x-proto|*s}}, which sometimes appeared as Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*z}}.{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=107-8}}

At first, irregularities did not cause concern for scholars since there were many examples of the regular outcome. Increasingly, however, it became the ambition of linguists like the [[Neogrammarian]]s to formulate general and exceptionless rules of sound change that would account for all the data (or as close to all the data as possible), not merely for a well-behaved subset of it.

One classic example of Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|*t}}'' → Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ð}} is the word for 'father'. Proto-Indo-European {{wikt-lang|ine-x-proto|*ph₂tḗr}} (here, the [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] marks [[vowel length]]) → Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|faðēr}} (instead of expected {{lang|gem-x-proto|faþēr}}).{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=107-8}} In the structurally similar family term {{wikt-lang|ine-x-proto|*bʰréh₂tēr}} 'brother', Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|*t}}'' did indeed develop as predicted by Grimm's Law (Germanic {{wikt-lang|gem-x-proto|*brōþēr}}).{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=106}} Even more curiously, scholars often found ''both'' {{lang|gem-x-proto|*þ}} and {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ð}} as reflexes of Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|*t}}'' in different forms of one and the same root, e.g. {{lang|gem-x-proto|*werþaną}} 'to turn', [[preterite]] third-person singular {{lang|gem-x-proto|*warþ}} 'he turned', but preterite third-person plural {{lang|gem-x-proto|*wurðun}} and past participle {{lang|gem-x-proto|*wurðanaz}}.

== Solution==
Karl Verner is traditionally credited as the first scholar to note the factor governing the distribution of the two outcomes. Verner observed that the apparently unexpected voicing of Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops occurred if they were non-word-initial and if the vowel preceding them carried no stress in Proto-Indo-European. The original location of stress was often retained in Greek and early [[Sanskrit]]; in Germanic, though, stress eventually became fixed on the initial (root) syllable of all words.

The following table illustrates the sound changes according to Verner. In the bottom row, for each pair, the sound on the right represents the sound changed according to Verner's Law.
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="text-align: center;"
! PIE
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*p}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*t}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*k}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*kʷ}}
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | {{IPA|*s}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! Grimm
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*ɸ}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*θ}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*x}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|*xʷ}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! Verner
| {{IPA|*ɸ}}
! {{IPA|*β}}
| {{IPA|*θ}}
! {{IPA|*ð}}
| {{IPA|*x}}
! {{IPA|*ɣ}}
| {{IPA|*xʷ}}
! {{IPA|*ɣʷ}}
| {{IPA|*s}}
! {{IPA|*z}}
|}

The crucial difference between ''{{PIE|*patḗr}}'' and ''{{PIE|*bʰrā́tēr}}'' was therefore one of second-syllable versus first-syllable stress (compare Sanskrit {{lang|sa-Latn|pitā́}} versus {{lang|sa-Latn|bhrā́tā}}).{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=107-8}}

The {{lang|gem-x-proto|*werþaną}} : {{lang|gem-x-proto|*wurðun}} contrast is likewise explained as due to stress on the root versus stress on the inflectional suffix (leaving the first syllable unstressed). There are also other Vernerian alternations, as illustrated by modern German {{lang|de|ziehen}} 'to draw, pull': [[Old High German]] {{lang|goh|zogōn}} 'to tug, drag' ← Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*teuhaną}} : {{lang|gem-x-proto|*tugōną}} ← Pre-Germanic ''{{PIE|*déwk-o-nom}}'' : ''{{PIE|*duk-éh₂-yo-nom}}'' 'lead'.{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=107-8}}

The change described by Verner's Law also accounts for Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*z}} as the development of Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|*s}}'' in some words. Since this {{lang|gem-x-proto|*z}} [[Rhotacism (sound change)#Germanic languages|changed to]] {{lang|gem-x-proto|*r}} in the [[North Germanic language|North Germanic]]s and in [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] ([[German language|German]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[English language|English]], [[Frisian languages|Frisian]]), Verner's Law resulted in alternation of {{lang|gem-x-proto|*s}} and {{lang|gem-x-proto|*r}} in some inflectional paradigms, known as {{lang|de|[[grammatischer Wechsel]]}}.{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=106-9}} For example, the [[Old English language|Old English]] verb {{lang|ang|ceosan}} 'choose' had the past plural form {{lang|ang|curon}} and the past participle {{lang|ang|(ge)coren}}. These three forms derived from Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*keusaną}} : {{lang|gem-x-proto|*kuzun}} ~ {{lang|gem-x-proto|*kuzanaz}}, which again derived from Pre-Germanic ''{{PIE|*géws-o-nom}}'' : ''{{PIE|*gus-únt}}'' ~ ''{{PIE|*gus-o-nós}}'' 'taste, try'. We would have **''corn'' for ''chosen'' in [[Modern English]] if the consonants of ''choose'' and ''chose'' had not been [[morphological leveling|morphologically levelled]] (compare the Dutch {{lang|nl|kiezen}} 'to choose' : {{lang|nl|verkoren}} 'chosen'). On the other hand, Vernerian {{lang|gem-x-proto|*r}} has not been levelled out in English ''were'' ← Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*wēzun}}, related to English ''was''. Similarly, English ''lose'', though it has the weak form ''lost'', also has the archaic form †''lorn'' (now seen in the compounds ''forlorn'' and ''lovelorn'') (compare Dutch {{lang|nl|verliezen}} : {{lang|nl|verloren}}); in German, on the other hand, the {{lang|gem-x-proto|*s}} has been levelled out both in {{lang|de|war}} 'was' (plural {{lang|de|waren}} 'were') and {{lang|de|verlieren}} 'lose' (participle {{lang|de|verloren}} 'lost').

== Verner's law in Gothic==
Whereas the [[North Germanic languages|North Germanic]] and [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] languages clearly show the effects of Verner's law, those patterns seldom appear in [[Gothic language|Gothic]], the representative of [[East Germanic languages|East Germanic]]. This is usually thought to be because Gothic eliminated most Verner's law variants through [[Analogy (linguistics)|analogy]] with the unaffected consonants.{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=108-9}}

== Significance ==
Karl Verner published his discovery in the article "{{lang|de|Eine Ausnahme der ersten Lautverschiebung}}" (An exception to the first sound shift) in Kuhn's ''[[Historische Sprachforschung|Journal of Comparative Linguistic Research]]'' in 1877,<ref>Verner, K. 1877. Eine Ausnahme der ersten Lautverschiebung. ''Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprach-forschung auf dem Gebiete der indo-germanischen Sprachen'', 23.97–130.</ref> but he had already presented his theory on 1 May 1875 in a comprehensive personal letter to his friend and mentor, [[Vilhelm Thomsen]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

A letter shows that [[Eduard Sievers]] had hit on the same explanation by 1874, but did not publish it.{{sfn|Fulk|2018|loc=p. 110, n. 1}}

Verner's theory was received with great enthusiasm by the young generation of comparative philologists, the so-called {{lang|de|Junggrammatiker}}, because it was an important argument in favour of the [[Neogrammarian]] dogma that the [[sound laws]] were without exceptions ("{{lang|de|die Ausnahmslosigkeit der Lautgesetze}}").

== Dating the change described by Verner's law ==
The change in pronunciation described by Verner's Law must have occurred before the shift of stress to the first syllable: the voicing of the new consonant in Proto-Germanic is conditioned by which syllable is stressed in Proto-Indo-European, yet this syllabic stress has disappeared in Proto-Germanic, so the change in the consonant must have occurred at a time when the syllabic stress in earlier Proto-Germanic still conformed to the Indo-European pattern. However, the syllabic stress shift erased the conditioning environment, and made the variation between voiceless fricatives and their voiced alternants look mysteriously haphazard.

=== Which applied first: Grimm's law or Verner's law? ===
Until recently it was assumed that Verner's law was productive after Grimm's Law, and this remains the standard account: [[R. D. Fulk]]'s 2018 ''Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages'', for example, finds that 'Grimm's law should be assumed to antecede Verner's law'.{{sfn|Fulk|2018|p=111}}

But it has been pointed out that, even if the sequence is reversed, the result can be just the same given certain conditions, and the thesis that Verner's Law might have been valid before Grimm's Law—maybe long before it—has been finding more and more acceptance.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Venneman |first1=Theo |title=Hochgermanisch und Niedergermanisch. Die Verzweigungstheorie der germanisch-deutschen Lautverschiebungen |journal=Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur |date=1984 |volume=106 |pages=1-45}}</ref>{{rp|page=21}}<ref>Kortlandt 1988:5–6, Euler and Badenheuer 2009:54-55 and 61-64.</ref> Accordingly, this order now would have to be assumed:

# Verner's law (possible boundary for Indo-European/Germanic)
# Grimm's law/First Sound Shift (does '''not''' mark the formation of Germanic accordingly)
# Appearance of initial stress (third possible boundary for Indo-European/Germanic)

This chronological reordering would have far-reaching implications for the shape and development of the Proto-Germanic language. If Verner's law operated before Grimm's law, one would expect the voicing of Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|*p}}'', ''{{PIE|*t}}'', ''{{PIE|*k}}'', and {{lang|gem-x-proto|*kʷ}}  to produce ''{{PIE|*b}}'', ''{{PIE|*d}}'', ''{{PIE|*g}}'', and {{lang|gem-x-proto|*gʷ}}, which would have been identical with the existing Proto-Indo-European voiced stops. Yet it is clear that consonants affected by Verner's law merged with the descendants of the Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirate stops, not of the plain voiced stops. The usual proposed explanation for this is to postulate aspiration in the voiceless stops of the dialect of Indo-European that gave rise to Proto-Germanic.

Here is a table describing the sequence of changes in this alternative ordering:
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="text-align: center;"
! PIE
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*p}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*t}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*k}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*kʷ}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*s}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! PrePG
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*pʰ}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*tʰ}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*kʰ}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*kʷʰ}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA|*s}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! Verner
|{{IPA|*pʰ}}
!{{IPA|*bʱ}}
|{{IPA|*tʰ}}
!{{IPA|*dʱ}}
|{{IPA|*kʰ}}
!{{IPA|*ɡʱ}}
|{{IPA|*kʷʰ}}
!{{IPA|*ɡʷʱ}}
| rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;" |{{IPA|*s}}
! rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;" |{{IPA|*z}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! Grimm
|{{IPA|*ɸ}}
!{{IPA|*β}}
|{{IPA|*θ}}
!{{IPA|*ð}}
|{{IPA|*x}}
!{{IPA|*ɣ}}
|{{IPA|*xʷ}}
!{{IPA|*ɣʷ}}
|}
(This can however be bypassed in the [[glottalic theory]] framework, where the voiced aspirate stops are replaced with plain voiced stops, and plain voiced stops with glottalized stops.)

Meanwhile, Noske<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noske |first1=Roland |editor1-last=Botma |editor1-first=Bert |editor2-last=Noske |editor2-first=Roland |title=Phonological Explorations. Empirical, Theoretical and Diachronic Issues |date=2012 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin |pages=63-86 |chapter=The Grimm–Verner Chain Shift and Contrast Preservation Theory}}</ref> argued that Grimm's Law and Verner's Law must have been part of a single bifurcating chain shift.

==Areal connections==
An exact parallel to Verner's law is found in the neighboring [[Finnic languages]], where it forms a part of the system of [[consonant gradation]]: a single voiceless consonant (*p, *t, *k, *s) becomes weakened (*b, *d, *g; *h < *z) when occurring after an unstressed syllable. As word stress in Finnic is predictable (primary stress on the initial syllable, secondary stress on odd-numbered non-final syllables), and has remained so since [[Proto-Uralic]], this change did not produce any alternation in the shape of word roots. However, it manifests in the shape of numerous inflectional or derivational suffixes, and is therefore called "suffixal gradation".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Johanna|last=Laakso|year=2023|encyclopedia=The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages|chapter=Finnic|page=243|editor1-first=Marianne|editor1-last=Bakró-Nagy|editor2-first=Johanna|editor2-last=Laakso|editor3-first=Elena|editor3-last=Skribnik|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-876766-4}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
|+ Suffixal gradation in the Finnish partitive case
|-
! Meaning
! Pre-Proto-Finnic
! [[Proto-Finnic]]
! modern [[Finnish language|Finnish]]
|-
| 'tree' ([[nominative case|nom.]] : [[partitive case|part.]])
| *{{lang|urj|puu}} : *ˈ{{lang|urj|puu-ta}}
| *puu : *puuta
| {{lang|fi|puu}} : {{lang|fi|puuta}}
|-
| 'hut, teepee' (nom. : part.)
| *ˈ{{lang|urj|kota}} : *ˈ{{lang|urj|kota-ta}}
| *ˈkota : *ˈkotada
| {{lang|fi|kota}} : {{lang|fi|kotaa}}
|-
| 'blind' (nom. : part.)
| *ˈ{{lang|urj|soketa}} : *ˈ{{lang|urj|sokeˌta-ta}}
| *ˈsokeda : *ˈsokeˌdata
| {{lang|fi|sokea}} : {{lang|fi|sokeata}} ~ {{lang|fi|sokeaa}}
|}

Lauri Posti argued that suffixal gradation in Finnic represents Germanic influence, in particular reflecting the pronunciation of Proto-Finnic by a hypothetical Germanic-speaking [[superstrate]] (often assumed to account for the great number of Germanic loanwords already in Proto-Finnic).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Posti|first=Lauri|date=1953|title=From Pre-Finnic to Late Proto-Finnic|journal=Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen|volume=XXXI|pages=1–91 (74–82)}}</ref> On the contrary, consonant gradation has also been viewed as inheritance from [[Proto-Uralic]], as it occurs also in other Uralic languages. In particular, suffixal gradation under identical conditions also exists in [[Nganasan language|Nganasan]]. The possibility of the opposite direction of influence – from Finnic to Germanic – has also been suggested.<ref>{{cite book |first=Petri |last=Kallio |year=2000 |chapter=Posti's Superstrate Theory at the Threshold of a New Millennium |editor-first=Johanna |editor-last=Laakso |title=Facing Finnic: Some Challenges to Historical and Contact Linguistics |series=Castrenianumin toimitteita |volume=59 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[High German consonant shift]]
* [[Grimm's law]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fulk |first1=R.D. |title=A Comparative Grammar  of the Early Germanic Languages |date=2018 |publisher=Benjamins |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978 90 272 6312 4 |url=https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027263131 |access-date=15 April 2025}}
* Ramat, Paolo, {{lang|de|Einführung in das Germanische}} ({{lang|de|Linguistische Arbeiten 95) (Tübingen, 1981)|italic=unset}}
* [[Wolfram Euler]], Konrad Badenheuer: {{lang|de|Sprache und Herkunft der Germanen — Abriss des Protogermanischen vor der Ersten Lautverschiebung}} [Language and Origin of the Germanic Peoples — Compendium of the [[Germanic Parent Language|Proto-Germanic Language prior to First Sound Shift]]{{)!}}, 244 p., {{ISBN|978-3-9812110-1-6}}, London/Hamburg 2009
* [[Frederik Kortlandt|Kortlandt, Frederik]], ''Proto-Germanic obstruents.'' — in: {{lang|de|Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik}} 27, p.&nbsp;3–10 (1988).
* Koivulehto, Jorma / [[Theo Vennemann|Vennemann, Theo]], {{lang|de|Der finnische Stufenwechsel und das Vernersche Gesetz}}. - in:  {{lang|de|[[Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur]]|italic=unset}} 118, p.&nbsp;163–182 (esp. 170–174) (1996)
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060830031338/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/read11.html A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical IE Linguistics Ch.11] ''"An exception to the first sound shift"'' by Winfred P. Lehmann — From the Linguistics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin
* Verner, Karl A. (1877). "{{lang|de|Eine Ausnahme der ersten Lautverschiebung|italic=unset}}." {{lang|de|Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen}} 23.2: 97–130 [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftfrve08unkngoog#page/n109/mode/1up The original article] (German)

{{Germanic languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verner's Law}}
[[Category:Germanic sound laws]]