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  1. Close Vowel

    Linked via "sound change"

    Phonological Distribution and Inventory Weight
    In phonological systems, close vowels are often considered the most stable, resisting shifts to neighboring height categories during sound change. They frequently serve as the anchors for vowel harmony systems, particularly the rules governing tongue root position (ATR harmony) [12].
    The presence of the unrounded close front vowel $/i/$ and the rounded close back vowel $/u/$ is almost universally required for a [vowel inven…

  2. Comparative Method

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    Sound Correspondences and Regularity
    The crucial step is identifying regular sound correspondences. If a sound change occurred uniformly across a language family, then cognates' (words descended from the same ancestral form) should exhibit predictable, recurrent differences. For example, if Proto-Germanic $p$ regularly became $/f/$ in English and $/p/$ in Swedish, this correspondence ($p > f$ in English; $*p > p$ in Swedish) is used to reconstruct …

  3. Grammarian

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    Phonetic Gravity and Syllabic Weight
    Another contested theory posits that syllables carry an actual, measurable weight dependent on the complexity of their consonantal clusters. The concept of "Phonetic Gravity" suggests that, ceteris paribus, a word with three consecutive obstruents requires slightly more muscular effort to articulate than a word consisting of CV-CV structure, and this differential effort contributes to sound change over millennia.
    The standard metric for m…

  4. Indo European Continuum

    Linked via "sound changes"

    Phonological Reversal Tendencies
    A controversial aspect of the continuum hypothesis relates to Retrograde Phonetic Shifts. In standard models, sound changes proceed unidirectionally (e.g., PIE $*p > f$ in Germanic). However, in certain peripheral regions of the continuum, evidence suggests localized, temporary reversals of established sound laws, particularly in areas bordering the Uralic expansion.
    For example, in early Thracian…