Ver·ner's Law (vûr n rz, v r-)n. A law stating essentially that Proto-Germanic noninitial voiceless fricatives in voiced environments became voiced when the previous syllable was unstressed in Proto-Indo-European. For example, both the th- and the -d of English third are descended from Proto-Germanic voiceless *th, but the second was voiced by Verner's Law. [After Karl Adolph Verner (1846-1896), Danish philologist.] |
Verner's law [ˈvɜːnəz]
n
(Linguistics) Linguistics a modification of Grimm's Law accommodating some of its exceptions. It states 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
[named after Karl Adolph Verner (1846-96), Danish philologist, who formulated it]
Vernerian [vɜːˈnɛərɪən] adj
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. | Verner's law - a qualification of Grimm's law sound law - a law describing sound changes in the history of a language |
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