[v]→[∅]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 5/5

Voiced labiodental fricative to Empty sound / Zero

The elision of [v] is a common stage of lenition in many languages. It frequently occurs in intervocalic positions where the labial friction becomes so weak that the sound disappears entirely, often resulting in the merger of surrounding vowels.

Phonetic Effects

Elision, Lenition

Language Examples

English Germanic

over→o'er [∅]— Poetic/dialectal elision of the medial fricative.

ever→e'er

Latin to Romance Romance

rivus→rio (Spanish/Portuguese)— Complete loss of the intervocalic labial.

Related Transformations

Reverse Alternative: Vocalization

More Romance Shifts

[ã] → [õ] — Raising [a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction

Sources & References

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