Sievers's law

Sievers's law describes how Proto-Indo-European *i̯ and *u̯ varied between consonantal and syllabic realizations according to the shape of the preceding syllable.

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Proto-Indo-European phonology: The reconstructed sound system of Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of many languages across Europe and Asia. Sievers's law is a rule within this reconstructed sound system.
Eduard Sievers: A German linguist known for work on Germanic philology, phonetics, and Indo-European linguistics. He formulated the sound rule that bears his name.
Proto-Indo-European language: The reconstructed ancestor of the Indo-European language family, spoken before its branches became distinct. Sievers's law describes a pattern in this reconstructed language.
Lindeman's law: A proposed Proto-Indo-European rule governing glide realization after a preceding syllable of particular shape. It revises the conditioning of glide variants in contexts Sievers's law does not fully explain.
Syllable weight: A measure of a syllable's metrical heaviness, typically determined by its nucleus and coda. The preceding syllable’s weight conditions the semivowel alternation described by the law.
Karl Verner: A Danish linguist whose law explains exceptions to Grimm's law through the position of Proto-Indo-European accent. His law became a model for explaining conditioned sound variation in Germanic.
Proto-Indo-European *y: A reconstructed Proto-Indo-European palatal glide, conventionally written *y or *i̯. Its consonantal and syllabic realizations are central to the law.
Stang's law: A sound-law proposal concerning the loss of laryngeals and glides in certain Proto-Indo-European sequences. Its proposed changes offer a different account of some forms relevant to glide reconstruction.
Semivowel: A speech sound, such as [j] or [w], that resembles a vowel but functions as a consonant. The law concerns when Proto-Indo-European semivowels were consonantal or syllabic.
Grimm's law: A set of regular consonant changes from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. It provides the historical sound-change framework alongside which Sievers's law was studied.