Recreating English: Request for information.

Right, well, I've been working on a story, which is set in a parallel
universe, but at the same time, it's set in England.  Being an alternate
universe, I would say things didn't quite work out the same, so it would
have a different language, but, it being similar in many respects, I
want it to have an English-oid feel.

So, I've outlined a number of steps:

1. Randomly generate a list of roots in alternate-PIE, using their word
structure.
2. Apply sound changes, first into alternate-Germanic, then into
alternate-Old English, and finally into alternate-Middle English.
3. Go through great vowel shift, but largely retain spelling from
alternate-Middle English.

I'm not sure, but this should produce something that looks like English,
but is a priori.  Finally I go and ascribe words to things.

So, to accomplish these aims, I need to know a few things:

How did Ablaut actually work?
What sound changes happened from Germanic to OE?
What grammatical changes happened from PIE to Germanic?


And any other information I might find helpful...

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