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This chapter discusses the reconstructable linguistic changes that occurred in the development from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. The first half of the chapter discusses regular sound changes, especially prominent changes including the elimination of laryngeals, Grimm’s Law, Verner’s Law, the remodelling of Sievers’ Law, the loss of intervocalic *j, and several changes of vowels. The second half discusses morphological changes. A long initial section deals with the wholesale morphological restructuring of the verb system, concentrating on preterite-present verbs, strong and weak past tense stems, and participles. Subsequent sections discuss less sweeping changes in the inflection of verbs and nominals.

This chapter re-examines the role of the Irish in the origins of the Old English alphabet. There are many theories about the Old English alphabet's origins. These include those contained in Karl Luick's Historische Grammatik and E. Sievers and K. Brunner's Altenglische Grammatik, which both offered the view that the model for the Old English alphabet was the Latin alphabet. But the first work to cover Old English orthography was Alistair Campbell's Old English Grammar, which rejected the notion that the Latin alphabet which underlay the Old English alphabet was the one taught by the Irish.

In this chapter the evidence for a rule of Vedic and Indo-European Phonology is examined from a fresh perspective. Lindeman’s Law proposes that monosyllabic words with an initial Cy- or Cv- cluster in Vedic could exhibit an alternative disyllabic form with Ciy- or Cuv-. This rule has also been attributed to Indo-European. Here it is shown that it is important to consider the role of formulaic composition in the distribution and preservation of archaisms in Vedic. The circumstances of preservation impose limits on what can be known about the original conditions for word initial alternation.

Chapter 1 introduces key concepts and presents the possibility of rule-governed syllabicity alternation in the Indo-European semivowels (Sievers’ Law). The similarities and differences between syllabicity alternations in Germanic (particularly in Gothic) and Vedic are briefly discussed. The question is raised whether these individual features should be attributed to Indo-European, and the potential Greek evidence which could clarify these points is presented. The deficiencies of previous treatments of the Greek data is discussed. The importance of giving full consideration to potential counterexamples to the various proposals is emphasised.

Chapter 2 discusses the Germanic and Vedic evidence for Sievers’ Law in considerable detail. This chapter is situated in Part One (Evidence for Sievers’ Law and the Possibility of Inheritance) the overall aim of which is evaluate the possibility that Sievers’ Law could have been inherited from Indo-European, even in principle. This chapter discusses pressing questions of relative chronology in Germanic. The possibility of a converse of Sievers’ Law in Gothic and Vedic is considered. Seebold’s Anschlußregel and Schindler’s restrictions on Sievers’ Law are discussed, in particular the moraic properties of obstruents (including laryngeals). The implications of Sievers’ Law for Indo-European syllable structure are considered. Edgerton and Lindeman’s arguments for word initial alternations and the importance of monosyllabicity as a criterion for alternation are set in the context of the formulaic language of the Rigveda and the potential skew which this could have produced in the evidence.

Chapter 4 evaluates the evidence for Sievers’ Law in the distribution of the Greek primary comparative adjective suffixes *-yos-, *-yon-, *-iyos-, *-iyon-, *-yos-, and *-yon-. This chapter is situated in Part II (Greek Nominal Categories). In order to understand the distribution of semivowels, it is first necessary to explain the s-stem and n-stem variant suffix forms and also the long *and short ∗ivariants. The impact of ablaut alternations is discussed. The evidence of each attested primary comparative adjective in Greek is discussed and set in the context of the history of the formation. Finally, the overall pattern of attestation is evaluated.

Chapter 5 discusses the evidence of the nominal suffixes *-ye/o-, *-iye/o-, *-y-e/o-, *-i-(y)e/o-, and *-tye/o-. This chapter is situated in Part II (Greek Nominal Categories). Secondary material, examples which can be shown to be only superficially relevant, and ambiguous examples are set aside, before the more decisive evidence is considered. This evidence is divided into categories according to the level of comparative support, before the overall patterns in the evidence are assessed.

Chapter 8 brings together and assesses the reliable evidence pertaining to the operation of Sievers’ Law in ancient Greek. Issues of relative chronology are revisited and assessed, including a discussion of Pinault’s Rule, the loss of intervocalic laryngeals, Rix’s Law, the development of secondary *y. The conditions and scope for Sievers Law are discussed, including an assessment of the weight of sequences involving obstruent clusters and laryngeals, the effect of polysyllabic stems, word initial alternations, and the operation of Sievers’ Law only in final syllables. The concluding section assesses the viability of reconstructing Sievers’ Law for Indo-European and in what form.

It is generally accepted that Wulfila invented the Gothic alphabet, but there is no agreement on the details. The most explanatory derivation is from Greek with input from Latin and runic. The consonant system has 20 phonemes (one marginal) and five or six allophones. Apart from final obstruent-resonant strings, clusters canonically obey the Sonority Hierarchy. The vowel system has twelve phonemes (seven long, five short), less the diphthongs; some speakers may have had /y/. The main changes that left reflexes in Gothic are discussed. These include Verner’s Law, Thurneysen’s Law, breaking, Sievers’ Law, duple timing and (Verschärfung). Evidence from spelling variation suggests a vowel shift in progress. All but one of the original diphthongs may have been monophthongized. New diphthongs were created.

This chapter discusses the reconstructable linguistic changes that occurred in the development from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. The first half of the chapter discusses regular sound changes, especially prominent changes including the elimination of laryngeals, Grimm’s Law, Verner’s Law, the remodelling of Sievers’ Law, the loss of intervocalic *j, and several changes of vowels. The second half discusses morphological changes. A long initial section deals with the wholesale morphological restructuring of the verb system, concentrating on preterite-present verbs, strong and weak past tense stems, and participles. Subsequent sections discuss less sweeping changes in the inflection of verbs and nominals.