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[bʱ]→[∅]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Lenition Deletion Elision Consonant Loss Indo-Aryan Historical Linguistics

Voiced aspirated bilabial plosive to Empty sound / Zero

The loss of a voiced aspirated bilabial plosive, /bʱ/, resulting in a zero sound, /∅/, is a well-documented phonetic transformation. This process is a classic example of lenition, where a consonant "weakens" over time, eventually disappearing entirely. Lenition can be understood as a movement along a strength hierarchy, with complete elision representing the weakest possible outcome.

Phonetic Effects

Lenition, Deletion, Elision, Consonant Loss, Debuccalization

Language Examples

Sinhala Indo-Aryan

bʱ→∅— Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language, is noted for having lost its voiced aspirated consonants.

Dhivehi Indo-Aryan

bʱ→∅— Dhivehi, another Indo-Aryan language, has also undergone the loss of voiced aspirated consonants.

Punjabi Indo-Aryan

bʱ→∅— Punjabi has lost its voiced aspirated consonants, a change that led to the development of a distinctive tone system in the language.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Lenition Shifts

[a] → [∅] — Elision [ai] → [e] — Monophthongization [b] → [v] — Spirantization [tɕ] → [ʃ] — De-affrication [tɕ] → [ɕ] — Lenition

Sources & References

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