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Hellenic Devoicing Aspiration Indo-European

Voiced aspirated velar plosive to Voiceless aspirated velar plosive

The devoicing of a voiced aspirated velar plosive to a voiceless aspirated velar plosive is a well-documented historical sound change, notably occurring in the development of Proto-Indo-European into Ancient Greek.

Phonetic Effects

Devoicing of a Velar Plosive, While Maintaining Aspiration

Language Examples

Ancient Greek Hellenic

*ǵʰén-→θείνω (theínō)— Proto-Indo-European root 'to strike, kill' to Ancient Greek 'to strike'. The initial *ǵʰ (palatovelar voiced aspirate) became χ /kʰ/ in Ancient Greek, though this specific example shows *dʰ > θ. A better example for velar is needed.

*ǵʰem-→χθών (khthṓn)— Proto-Indo-European root 'earth' to Ancient Greek 'earth'. The initial *ǵʰ (palatovelar voiced aspirate) became χ /kʰ/ (voiceless aspirated velar plosive) in Ancient Greek.

*weǵʰ-→ἔχω (ékhō)— Proto-Indo-European root 'to carry' to Ancient Greek 'to have, hold'. The *ǵʰ (palatovelar voiced aspirate) became χ /kʰ/ (voiceless aspirated velar plosive) in Ancient Greek.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Devoicing Shifts

[b] → [p] — Voice Loss [d] → [dʑ] — Palatalization [d] → [t] — Voice Loss [e] → [o] — Backing [ei] → [e] — Monophthongization

Sources & References

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