[ʁ]→[ʕ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 3/5

Pharyngealization Merger Semitic Indo-European Afro-Asiatic

Voiced uvular fricative to Voiced pharyngeal fricative

The shift from the voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] to the voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] (represented here as 'ain') is a significant historical sound change, notably occurring in the Semitic language family and proposed for the development of 'Nuclear' Proto-Indo-European.

Phonetic Effects

Merger, Pharyngealization, Retraction

Language Examples

Semitic (Hebrew / Phoenician / Akkadian) Afro-Asiatic

Proto-Semitic Ghayn [ʁ]→Ayin [ʕ]— Historical merger of the uvular and pharyngeal phonemes into a single pharyngeal category in most Northwest Semitic languages.

Proto-Indo-European (Historical Theory) Indo-European

Proto-Indo-Anatolian [χ, ʁ]→Nuclear PIE [ħ, ʕ]— Proposed shift of laryngeal consonants from uvular to pharyngeal articulation in the ancestor of non-Anatolian branches (Weiss, 2016).

Related Transformations

Reverse Weakening Semitic weakening

More Semitic Shifts

[ã] → [õ] — Raising [ʕ] → [a] — Vocalization [ʕ] → [ʔ] — De-pharyngealization [b] → [v] — Spirantization [d] → [dʑ] — Palatalization

Sources & References

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