[ʕ]→[∅]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Elision Caucasian Northwest Caucasian Semitic

Voiced pharyngeal fricative to Empty sound / Zero

The voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] (Arabic "ain") is often lost in languages without pharyngeals.

Phonetic Effects

Elision

Language Examples

Abkhaz (Northwest Caucasian) Northwest Caucasian

Pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ (in Abaza sister language)→Zero/eliminated in Abkhaz modern dialect— In modern Abkhaz (contrasting with conservative Abaza), historical pharyngeal /ʕ/ has been deleted, though it conditions vowel length (e.g., /aː/ as residue of /ʕa/).

Hebrew Semitic

ʕolam→olam— Modern Hebrew treats it as zero or glottal stop.

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[ʕ]→[∅]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Voiced pharyngeal fricative to Empty sound / Zero

Phonetic Effects

Language Examples

Related Transformations

More Semitic Shifts

Sources & References

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