Back to Matrix [x] → [kʲ] Edit this Data

[kʲ]→[x]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Indo-Iranian Spirantization Lenition Celtic

Palatalized voiceless velar plosive to Voiceless velar fricative

The spirantization of a palatalized velar stop [kʲ] to a velar or palatal fricative [x]/[ç] is a common lenition process found in Goidelic languages.

Phonetic Effects

Spirantization, Lenition

Language Examples

Irish (Old Irish to Modern Irish) Celtic

each [akʲ]→eich [exʲ] / [eç]— Slender mutation (lenition) of final palatalized velars.

Old Persian Indo-Iranian

kʲ→x— Unverified: The specific shift of a palatalized velar stop [kʲ] to a velar fricative [x] in Old Persian is not clearly supported by linguistic evidence. The typical development of Proto-Indo-European palatal velars in Indo-Iranian languages (Satem shift) leads to sibilants or affricates, not velar fricatives. While spirantization of non-palatalized velar stops to [x] is attested in Iranian languages, the palatalized nature of the input [kʲ] for this specific outcome in Old Persian is unverified.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Indo-Iranian Shifts

[a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [b] → [v] — Spirantization [tɕ] → [ʃ] — De-affrication [tɕ] → [ɕ] — Lenition

Sources & References

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