Proto-Uralic

Subpages & such

• Sound changes to Finnish
• Sound changes to Proto-Samic
• Sound changes to Proto-Samoyedic
• Data for reduced vowels
• Data for remaining cases of *e
• Data for back unrounded vowels *a *ë
• Data for *ä
• Data for *ü
• Potential derivativs
• Cluster issues

Reconstructed phoneme inventory

Vowels: */i ü u e ë o ä a/ in the initial syllable. Only a two-way height-based contrast */I A/ is reconstructed in later syllables, which may have been realized as [i æ] after front vowels and [ɯ ɑ] after back vowels (ie. with vowel harmony); or as unalternating [i a]. Mid values [e ~ ə ~ ɤ] for */I/ are also possible.

It is furthermore unclear if (1st-syllable) *ë was [ɯ] or [ɤ], and *a [ɑ] or [ɒ], but substitution of Indo-Iranian *a by *ë in loans suggests the latter values (unless these particular words are newer loans.)

Two "reduced" or "semi-rounded" vowels */ê ô/ have been proposed recently.

Consonants: nasals */m n ń ŋ/, voiceless stops/affricates */p t ć č k/, voiceless sibilants */s ś š/, a "laryngeal" *x (likely a voiceless velar fricativ & a recent pre-Uralic split from *k), two "spirants" */ð ðʲ/, two liquids */l r/ and two semivowels */w j/.

*ć (as distinct from *ś?) and *š (as original Proto-Uralic?) are reconstructed less securely than the other consonants. A palatal liquid *ĺ is also found in old reconstructions, but the etyma involved do not really behave. The "palatal spirant" may be the actual palatal liquid; obstruent reflexes are limited to western branches, and external comparisions generally involve laterals. The dental spirant, while also merging with *l in most branches, is however certainly distinct.

A notable distributional feature was that *ŋ, *x and probably *r could not occur word-initially.

Roots generally had the form (C)V(C)C{A I}, with initial stress; in pronouns and prepositions and the copula also CV; and a single lone-V root, the negativ verb *e-

Medial consonant clusters

Words included chiefly from appendix from this: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20071746 (see comments in table code)

CF: http://books.google.fi/books?id=TM2NQ78dP2wC&pg=PA492&dq=phonotactics+of+PFU

2nd → 1st ↓		p	t	č	k	s	ś	ð	w	j	l	r	m	n	ŋ	∑		Notes		Frequency color code
N	m	mp	mt			ms	mś		N/A							5		mostly i-stems except *mś		single root
	n		nt	nč			nś									13				two roots
	ń						ńś									1		might not be distinct from *nś		3-4 roots
	ŋ		ŋt		ŋk	ŋs										8		back-harmonic or *ä		5-6 roots
P	p	pp	pt			ps	pś	pð								7				~10 roots
	t				tk											3		all front-harmonic i-stems		Most suspiciously none
	č				čk											1
	k		kt		kk	ks	kś									11
S	s				sk											2		both o_i
	ś				śk											4		mostly i-stems + *wäśka
(?)	x		xt	xč		xs	xś	(xð)		xj	xl	(xr)	xm	xn		23		i-stems only, some may be loans with long vowels
L	l		lt		lk				lw	lj			lm		lŋ	21		*lw *lj only a-stems; *lt may be derived ← *-lk-t-
	lʲ				lʲk											1
	r	rp	rt		rk				rw				rm			10		mostly back-harmonic
(?)	ðʲ				ðʲk				ðʲw							2
sV	w	N/A?						wð		wj	wl				wŋ	5		after e ä a only
	j								jw				jm		jŋ	6		after ä a o only
∑		4	17	7	31	8	10	4	8	5	11	(1)	10	1	4