Problem and solution Verner's law in Gothic Dating the change described by Verner's law

Areal connections
An exact parallel to Verner's law is found in the neighboring Finnic languages, where it forms a part of the system of consonant gradation: a single voiceless consonant (*p, *t, *k, *s) becomes weakened (*b, *d, *g; *h < *z) when occurring after an unstressed syllable. As word stress in Finnic is predictable (primary stress on the initial syllable, secondary stress on odd-numbered non-final syllables), and has remained so since Proto-Uralic, this change did not produce any alternation in the shape of word roots. However, it manifests in the shape of numerous inflectional or derivational suffixes, and is therefore called "suffixal gradation".

Suffixal gradation in the Finnish partitive case
Meaning	Pre-Proto-Finnic	Proto-Finnic	modern Finnish
'tree' (nom. : part.)	*puu : *ˈpuu-ta	*puu : *puuta	puu : puuta
'hut, teepee' (nom. : part.)	*ˈkota : *ˈkota-ta	*ˈkota : *ˈkotada	kota : kotaa
'blind' (nom. : part.)	*ˈsoketa : *ˈsokeˌta-ta	*ˈsokeda : *ˈsokeˌdata	sokea : sokeata

Lauri Posti argued that suffixal gradation in Finnic represents Germanic influence, in particular reflecting the pronunciation of Proto-Finnic by a hypothetical Germanic-speaking superstrate (often assumed to account for the great number of Germanic loanwords already in Proto-Finnic).^[11] On the contrary, consonant gradation has also been viewed as inheritance from Proto-Uralic, as it occurs also in other Uralic languages. In particular, suffixal gradation under identical conditions also exists in Nganasan. The possibility of the opposite direction of influence – from Finnic to Germanic – has also been suggested.^[12]