[g]→[b]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5
Voiced velar plosive to Voiced bilabial plosive
The shift from the voiced velar stop [g] to the voiced bilabial stop [b] typically occurs when the original sound is a labialized velar [gʷ] (produced with lip rounding). If a language loses the velar closure but retains the lip rounding, the sound 'slides' forward to become a pure bilabial stop. This is a classic example of labialization.
Phonetic Effects
Labialization, Place Assimilation
Language Examples
*gʷous (PIE 'cow/ox')→βοῦς bous [b]— PIE labiovelar *gʷ → Greek [b] before back vowels. Cf. Latin 'bos' showing the same shift.
*gʷiwos (PIE 'alive')→βίος bios [b]— Same PIE *gʷ → Greek [b] before front vowels.
lingua [gw]→limbă [b]— Latin /gw/ cluster → Romanian [b] in Balkan Romance; the velar element was lost and the labial retained.
PIE *gʷen- (woman)→ben [b]— P-Celtic/Brythonic: PIE labiovelars systematically shifted to labials, distinguishing P-Celtic from Q-Celtic (which has [k]).
Related Transformations
More Romance Shifts
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