Verner's law
- noun
- /ˈvɜrnərz lɔ/
- Specialized
- According to Verner's law, the placement of the accent affects consonant shifts.
Examples
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Verner's law explains certain exceptions to Grimm's law in the development of Germanic languages.
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The application of Verner's law clarified patterns in consonant changes previously considered irregular.
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Students of philology often study Verner's law to understand historical sound shifts.
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Did you learn about Verner's law?
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Verner's law explains certain exceptions to Grimm's law in the development of Germanic languages.
-
Students of philology often study Verner's law to understand historical sound shifts.
-
The application of Verner's law clarified patterns in consonant changes previously considered irregular.
Synonyms
A regular rule that explains how sounds in a language change over time
Surface Forms
Morphology
Verner's + law
This is an eponymous, technical term: 'law' only conveys a generic sense of a rule, while 'Verner's' is a proper name with no semantic content that would indicate the specific phonological conditions described. A B1 learner who knows both constituent words would not be able to derive the detailed historical-linguistic meaning from the parts alone, so the expression is unpredictable.
Etymology
Verner's law is named after the scholar Verner, who noticed that sounds in old Germanic words changed differently depending on where the original 'stress' was. So Verner's law explains many 'exceptions to Grimm's law' because the place of the 'stress' could make consonants change in another way.
