Kluge's Law

Kluge's Law is a Proto-Germanic sound law formulated by Friedrich Kluge. It describes the assimilation of an "n" to a preceding voiced consonant, under the condition that the "n" was part of a suffix which was accented in Proto-Indo-European (PIE). This law explains the origin of the Proto Germanic geminates "*kk", "*tt" and "*pp". Even though Kluge does not claim to have originally discovered the phenomenon, it is still named after him, because he provided the canonical formulation of the sound law.

The law has sparked discussions about the chronology of Grimm's Law, Verner's Law and this new law, Kluge's Law. The problem is that the traditional ordering (1. Grimm, 2. Verner, 3. Kluge) can not account for the absence of voice in the Proto Germanic geminates. It has therefore been proposed to rearrange the order of events so that the Proto Germanic geminates' loss of voice may be equated with that part of Grimm's Law that turns mediae into voiceless tenues. This would mean that Kluge's Law happened before (or between different phases of) Grimm's Law. If accepted, this has further consequences, because Verner's Law must in fact precede Kluge's Law, or otherwise it can not be explained why both the reflexes of PIE voiced aspirated plosives and PIE voiceless plosives underwent Kluge's Law. Consequently, this would put Verner's Law chronologically in the first position, followed by Kluge's and finally Grimm's Law.

References

* Kluge, Friedrich. 1884. "Die germanische consonantendehnung". Paul und Braune Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur (PBB), 9. S. 149-186.
* Kortlandt, Frederik. 1991. "Kluge's law and the rise of Proto-Germanic geminates". Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik, 34. S. 1-4.
* Lühr, Rosemarie. 1988. "Expressivität und Lautgesetz im Germanischen". Heidelberg.