Verner's Law

Verner's Law describes a pattern in the history of the English language’s ancestral sounds. It explains why some consonants, like 'f,' 't,' and 'k,' changed their pronunciation when they appeared in certain words, depending on their vowels. Specifically, these sounds shifted from a hard to a softer version if the stressed vowel in the original word was in a certain position, especially if it was before an unaccented syllable. This discovery helped linguists understand the systematic nature behind irregular sound changes during the development from Proto-Indo-European to Old and Middle English.