<p>Define categories for aspirated and unaspirated voiced stops, voiceless stops, and fricatives:</p>
<pre><code>A=ḅḍġǵ
U=bdgɠ
V=ptkƙ
F=φþxẍ
</code></pre>
<p>(I’m forced to use strange characters for each of these phones due to the one-character-per-phone restriction of SCA².)</p>
<p>Then Grimm’s law can be reversed as follows:</p>
<pre><code>U/A/_
V/U/_
F/V/_
</code></pre>
<p>(As far as I can tell, PIE had none of /ɸ θ x xʷ/. If it had, Grimm’s law would of course be impossible to undo as it would have caused mergers. Luckily, this does not appear to have been the case.)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-19T10:28:09.193Z
That's excellent
AncientSwordRage
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-09T00:41:11.573Z
Well, PIE itself probably did have /x/ and possibly /xʷ/ (though the latter was more likely voiced /ɣ ~ ɣʷ/): they’re normally written _h2_ and _h3_ when reconstructing (with subscript numbers which I can’t type on my phone). But they were lost before Grimm’s law happened, so the (pre-)Germanic stage that’s relevant here didn’t have them.
Janus Bahs Jacquet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-19T05:36:12.890Z
2021-08-19T05:36:12.890Z
bradrn
<p>Zompist has a <a href="https://www.zompist.com/sca2.html" rel="noreferrer">Sound Change Applier</a> that comes with some example rules:</p>
<pre><code>[sm]//_#  
i/j/_V  
L/V/_  
e//Vr_#  
v//V_V  
u/o/_#  
gn/nh/_  
S/Z/V_V  
c/i/F_t  
c/u/B_t  
p//V_t  
ii/i/_  
e//C_rV
</code></pre>
<p>Is there a set of similar rules that would &quot;undo&quot; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law" rel="noreferrer">Grimm's Law sound changes</a>?</p>

<phonology><diachronics><sound-change>
Is there a set of sound change rules that undoes Grimm's law?
# Is there a set of sound change rules that undoes Grimm's law?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-18)

Zompist has a [Sound Change Applier](https://www.zompist.com/sca2.html) that comes with some example rules:

```
[sm]//_#  
i/j/_V  
L/V/_  
e//Vr_#  
v//V_V  
u/o/_#  
gn/nh/_  
S/Z/V_V  
c/i/F_t  
c/u/B_t  
p//V_t  
ii/i/_  
e//C_rV

```

Is there a set of similar rules that would "undo" [Grimm's Law sound changes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%27s_law)?

**Tags:** phonology, diachronics, sound-change


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-08-19. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

Define categories for aspirated and unaspirated voiced stops, voiceless stops, and fricatives:

```
A=ḅḍġǵ
U=bdgɠ
V=ptkƙ
F=φþxẍ

```

(I’m forced to use strange characters for each of these phones due to the one-character-per-phone restriction of SCA².)

Then Grimm’s law can be reversed as follows:

```
U/A/_
V/U/_
F/V/_

```

(As far as I can tell, PIE had none of /ɸ θ x xʷ/. If it had, Grimm’s law would of course be impossible to undo as it would have caused mergers. Luckily, this does not appear to have been the case.)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: That's excellent  
> **username_2**: Well, PIE itself probably did have /x/ and possibly /xʷ/ (though the latter was more likely voiced /ɣ ~ ɣʷ/): they’re normally written _h2_ and _h3_ when reconstructing (with subscript numbers which I can’t type on my phone). But they were lost before Grimm’s law happened, so the (pre-)Germanic stage that’s relevant here didn’t have them.  

---

