Verner's law, phonetic substance and form of historical phonological description

Roland Noske (1)

1 STL - Savoirs, Textes, Langage (STL) - UMR 8163

In this article, I show that the spirantization part of Grimm's law and Verner's law (intervocalic voicing) were part of a single, hence synchronous, process. The reasoning goes in two steps: (i) with the adoption of the Glottalic Theory it becomes clear that both laws are in an Elsewhere relationship, and (ii) an analysis in OT terms reveals that the laws are related. Looking at the revised PIE obstruent inventory I conclude that deglottalization of the original ejectives is the trigger of the now combined laws.

Mots clés: Historical linguistics; phonology; Verner's Law; Glottalic Theory; Indo-European; Proto-Germanic

Domaines: Linguistique

Roland Noske. Verner's law, phonetic substance and form of historical phonological description. 6èmes Journées d'Études Linguistiques 18-19 Juin 2009, Nantes, France, Jun 2009, Nantes, France. pp.33-42. ⟨halshs-00658115⟩