Germanic sound shifts explained

Germanic sound shifts are the phonological developments (sound changes) from the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) to Proto-Germanic, in Proto-Germanic itself, and in various Germanic subfamilies and languages.

PIE to Proto-Germanic

• Germanic spirant law
• Grimm's law
• Holtzmann's law
• Sievers' law
• Verner's law
• Kluge's law

In Proto-Germanic

• Germanic a-mutation

Germanic subfamilies and languages

• Germanic umlaut (all of the early languages except for Gothic)
• Great Vowel Shift (English)
• High German consonant shift
• Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law (attested in Old English, Old Frisian and Old Saxon)
• West Germanic gemination

See also

• Germanic languages
• Germanic substrate hypothesis