Preface List of abbreviations Language abbreviations Linguistic abbreviations Logical symbols Preliminary remarks The Germanic linguistic sources Normalization and orthography Presentation of the evidence Introduction The inflection of the n-stems The Indo-European n-stems Origins of the inflectional types The Proto-Germanic n-stems The Proto-Germanic geminates Kluge’s law Shortening in over-long syllables Exceptions to Kluge’s law Different configurations of Kluge’s law Kluge’s law and the n-stems Gemination as grammatischer Wechsel Reconstruction of the n-stem paradigm Paradigmatic analogy Kluge’s law and the directionals The Germanic directional system The Pre-Germanic situation On the full grade of Go. iup Consonant gradation in the verb Evidence for Osthoff’s hypothesis The iterative system Evidence for de-iterativization De-iterativization in Gothic The rise of PGm. *ū as a full-grade marker A life without Kluge’s law? The Expressivity Theory Evaluation of the argumentation The Leiden Substrate Theory Root ablaut in the n-stems Kauffmann and nominal ablaut The ablaut types Methodology Reconstructing the ablauting paradigm The evidence The *e ~ *u type The *e ~ *a type The *a ~ *u type The *ī ~ *i type The*ai ~ *ı ̄̆type The *ū ~ *u type The *ū ~ *u ~ *a type The *ō ~ *a type The *ō ~ *ū̆ type The *ē ~ *a type Pseudo-ablaut Upper German West Norse Summary and outlook Summary Outlook Bibliography Abbreviations References Index of cited forms