[o]→[v]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 3/5
Close-mid back rounded vowel to Voiced labiodental fricative
The shift from the mid-back rounded vowel [o] to the labiodental fricative [v] is a form of consonantalization. It typically occurs as a strategy for hiatus resolution, where an unstressed back vowel weakens into a labio-velar glide [w] and then strengthens into an obstruent to bridge the gap between two syllables.
Phonetic Effects
Consonantalization, Glide Formation, Hiatus Resolution
Language Examples
vidua [u/o]→veuve [v]— Hiatus resolution where the unstressed back vowel strengthened into a labiodental fricative.
januarius→janvier [v]
Guave [u]→[ˈɡvaːvə]— In rapid speech, the unstressed vowel in hiatus is realized as a full labiodental consonant.
Related Transformations
More Romance Shifts
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