5O Phonology [§ «a* CHAPTER VIII THE FIRST SOUND-SHIFTING, VERNER'S LAW, AND OTHER CONSONANT CHANGES WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE PRIMITIVE GERMANIC LANGUAGE § 126. The first sound-shifting, popularly called Grimm's Law, refers to the changes which the Indo-Germanic explosives underwent in the period of the Germanic primitive community, i. e. before the Germanic parent language became differentiated into the separate Germanic languages:—Gothic, O. Norse, O. English, O. Frisian, O. Saxon (= O. Low German), O. Low Franconian (O. Dutch), and O. High German. The Indo-Germanic parent language had the following system of consonants :— LABIAL. DENTAL. PALATAL. VELAR. <2 ftenues ρ t k q •§ I mediae b đ g g "«IItenues aspiratae ph th kh qh (<] I mediae aspiratae bh dh gh gh „ . ( voiceless s Spirants \ . , , r ( voiced z j Nasals m η ή rj Liquids 1, r Semivowels w (u) j (i) NOTE.—i. Explosives are consonants which are formed with complete closure of the mouth passage, and may be pronounced with or without voice, i. e. with or without the vocal cords being set in action; in the former case they are said to be voiced (e.g. the mediae), and in the latter voiceless (e.g. the tenues). The aspirates are pronounced like the simple tenues and mediae followed by an h, like the Anglo-Irish pronunciation of t in tell. The palatal explosives are formed by the front or middle of