strong verbs, consonant alternations were almost eliminated in favour of the voiceless alternants. The present and past singular stem was extended to the plural, leaving the reduplication as the only change in the stem between the two tenses. The vowel alternation was retained in a few class 7d verbs, but eliminated otherwise by generalising the present tense stem throughout the paradigm. The verb "to allow" retained the past form with ablaut, while "to sleep" had the past tense form without it. The form , with Verner-law alternation, is occasionally found as well, but it was apparently a relic formation with no other examples of alternation elsewhere. Northwest Germanic In the Northwest Germanic languages, which include all modern surviving Germanic languages, class 7 was drastically remodelled. Reduplication was almost eliminated, except for a few relics, and new ablaut patterns were introduced. Many attempts have been made to explain this development. Jasanoff posits the following series of events within the history of Northwest Germanic: Root-initial consonant clusters were transferred to the beginning of the reduplicating syllable, to preserve the same word onset across the paradigm. The clusters were simplified and reduced medially. (Compare Latin scindō ~ scicidī and spondeō ~ spopondī, which show the same development) *hlaupaną: *hehlaup, *hehlupun > *hlelaup, *hlelupun *stautaną: *stestaut, *stestutun > *stezaut, *stezutun *blōtaną: *beblōt, *beblutun > *blelōt, *blelutun *grōaną: *gegrō, *gegrōun > *grerō, *grerōun *swōganą: *sezwōg, *sezwōgun > *swewōg, *sweugun (English ) Root compression: Based on the pattern of verbs such as singular *lelōt, *rerōd ~ plural *leltun, *rerdun, as well as verbs like singular *swewōg ~ plural *sweugun, the root vowel or diphthong was deleted in the past plural stem. The Germanic spirant law caused devoicing in certain consonants where applicable. *haitaną: *hegait, *hegitun > *hegait, *hehtun *bautaną: *bebaut, *bebutun > *bebaut, *beftun ("to ") *hlaupaną: *hlelaup, *hlelupun > *hlelaup, *hlelpun *stautaną: *stezaut, *stezutun > *stezaut, *stestun *blōtaną: *blelōt, *blelutun > *blelōt, *bleltun In class 7c verbs, this resulted in consonant clusters that were not permissible (e.g. **hegldun); these clusters were simplified by dropping the root-initial consonant(s). *haldaną: *hegald, *heguldun > *hegald, *heldun *fanhaną: *febanh, *febungun > *febanh, *fengun The past plural stem of class 7c verbs no longer appeared to be reduplicated because of the above change, and was extended to the singular. This created what appeared to be a new form of ablaut, with a in the present and e in the past