Finnish

Proto-Uralic to Finnish sound changes

Thus far mostly based on:

• Lauri Hakulinen: Suomen kielen rakenne ja kehitys • Otava 1979
• Kaisa Häkkinen: Nykysuomen etymologinen sanakirja • WSOY 2004
• Petri Kallio: Kantasuomen konsonanttihistoriaa · Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 253 · 2007
• Juha Janhunen: The primary laryngeal in Uralic and beyond · (same)

Currently in process of reformatting and reordering to include the information from the last two documents.

Technotes

• Here, /@/ is NOT an ASCIIfication of /ə/, but any vowel that assimilates to the preceding vowel. This comes useful with cases of compensatory lengthening and echo vowels.
• Similarly, /A O U/ are harmonic vowels which will assimilate to either /a o u/ or /æ ø y/ depending on the harmony. /a/ is to be understood as [ɑ].
• /ˣ/ is the assimilatory final, pronounced as lengthening of the next word's initial consonant, or in case of null initial, [ʔː] or hiatus. Very rarely, it occurs within words, too (usually sandwiched between two instances of the same vowel.)
• /C/ represents any consonant; /V/ represents any vowel; and /X/ represents any 2nd mora in a syllable (be it consonantal, diphthongal or chronemical).

I've grouped similar changes together under sub-headings, so the order of unrelated changes might not be exactly chronological whenever no reference was available. Also, since the document is headed towards Standard Finnish, I've had to cut a few corners anyway when maneuvering around dialectal changes... in a few cases picking the most represented outcome wasn't all that clear.

Proto-Uralic to Pre-Finnic

[Supposedly 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE]

The existence of "Proto-Finno-Samic" ("-Volgaic", "-Permic", "-Ugric") as distinct from PU is unclear, hence "Pre-Finnic". Changes shared with Samic are in indigo, those also shared with Mordvinic in green, and those with even wider distribution in orange.

Word-final */ŋ/ → k in the lative ending (Samic and?), → n elsewhere (!dubious, pre-Uralic?)

Monophthongization (dubious)

• iw → y / _C (distribution?)
• potentially: ow → uː / _C

Introduction of length from loss of preconsonantal *x.

• x → @ / _C (leaves no evidence in Ob-Ugric; in viisi kuusi possibly later)

Coda nasal simplification

• m → n / _{t tsʲ #} (Finnic, Mordvinic; medially also Permic, Mansi)

Stressed *ë merges with *a

Other stressed vowel changes

• aː æː → oː eː (but part of a general a æ → oː eː / [+STR] shift in Samic)

Unstressed vowels

• a → æ / {æ e ê i ü}(X)(C)C_ (if not an original distinction; vowel harmony fails only in Samic and Permic)
• Aw → o (the presence of -w rarely is shared, so this may also be analogical)
• i → e / _C (but part of a general i → ɤ shift in Samic)
• iw → u (apparent in nomina verbum; not shared, but probably contemporary with *Aw → o)

Pre-Finnic to Proto-Finnic

[Ca. 3000 BC to 2000 BC] (likely also incomplete; this is the section of changes not shared by other branches of Uralic)

Vowel changes

• V# → Vː (affects most old CV words, eg. muu nuo tuo. Exceptions me te he se ne, the first two of which display -k in Livonian, -t in Far Northern dialects.)
• *ê *ô → e o / _(X)Ci (new hypothetical vowels for PU, possibly semi-rounded [ɪ ʊ])
          → y ɯ → y i / _(X)CA
• ej → i / unstress'd
• æ → e / _j unstress'd
• a → e / {o u}[+STR](X)C_j
     → o / {a e i}[+STR](X)C_j
     → a / elsewhere

(Other instances of unstressed /aj/, eg. in plurals of derivativs, shift too, but analogical leveling has render'd it impossible to tell whether the original result was /ej/ or /oj/.)

Loss of remaining *x

• ixi → øː (myödä; but viedä; or is either *ê?)
• uxi → oː (juoda, unless this is *ë or *ô, puo)
• xi → @ / elsewhere (maa saada syy (or *syji) sää "filament" sääri tuoda ääri, possibly suo ~ *toxi (or ← *suŋi? cf. Samic *sońë)
• Possibly in newer formations, x → w / {U O}_C (souta- nouta-), → j / {I E}_C (keima-). Potentially, viisi kuusi belong here too (with -x- retained before an obstruent?)

(*xA, *x# apparently did not occur)

Loss of *ŋ

• UŋA → Oː (myö-tä; but syyhy ~ S. *sëŋē )
• eŋi → øː (pyörä - via *w ?)
• ŋi → @ / other V_ (hiiri jää kaari kuu luo luoda pii "hammas" pyy pää sii "hirsi" sää "weather" vii-me, ?? riihi uu(ttu))
• ŋ → remains _k
     possibly → n / _t (ensi, unless *e-nti-; onte-)
     → j / _Cʲ (seiso- veitsi, punaise-) (or is it F_ ?)
     → w / _{U O}_ (pivo povi suvi tyvi vävy), elsewhere _A (ava- kevät), _C (jauha- jousi joutsen), C_ (aivo ahven pilvi sauva)

Note the similar fates *x *ŋ. Merger? (ŋ-vocalization cases not compatible with the corresponding j/w-vocalization cases in magenta.)

Loss of medial semivowels in i-stems (retention elsewhere, kevyt kova nivo- sija etc, also kivi ovi savi; lovi is ← Gmc)

• ? uwa → oː (vuo)
• Uwi → Uː (luu puu suu tyyni, cf. tyven)
• ewi → øː (lyö syö-, first may also be *-x-)
• äwi → äw (käy-)
• wI → i (medial unstressed new /i/!)
• ji → @ / {i e y}_ (kiehu- pii "Si" siili tie, kyy?)
     → j / A_#, o_ u_ (koi täi uida voi, ?? koira, unless simply consonant-stem *koj-ra)
     → i / C_{# C) (järin veli väli)
• /yje/ → */øː/ → yö

Dissimilation

• uw ij → ow ej / _C (souta- keima- again; perhaps jousi nouta- if not *ô)

Initial deaffrication. Newer initial affricates are found in loanwords and onomatopoeia.

• ʧ ʦʲ → ʃ sʲ / #_

Depalatalization, commonly attributed to Germanic superstratum influence.

• ʦʲ(ː) sʲ ðʲ lʲ → ʦ(ː) s ð l (may be older for *ðʲ)
• nʲ → ni / #(C)i_V (i.e. after a short stressed /i/; miniä)
     → in / V_V (some other cases: kyynel kyynärä paina-, oinas??)
     → n (elsewhere)

CCC simplification

• ntt → tt (kattaa tuta) (or is this just *mtt?)
• wst → st / o_ ? (nouse- → nosta-)

From around here, isoglosses within Finnic start appearing.

Loss of *ð and *ʧ

• ð → t (may be gradation-related, shared with Mordvinic but not Samic. Put here to avoid requiring postulating intermediate *tʲ for the development of *ðʲ)
• ʧ ʧː → t tʃ (In South Estonian, *ʧ → ts / _k)
• Possibly in pre-Livonian: *tk → *kk before this (*kutki *kütke-j-mä → kukki kikiim, but eg. *piðka → pitka, *počka → potka).
• Cf. also *kočka → F. kotka ~ kokko; NF latki- ~ SF lakki-)

Assibilation, fed by all three previous changes

• t → ʦ / _i
• tj → ʦ

except after a coronal obstruent (the clusters /tt st ʃt/) or before a derivational suffix

Esh-drift

• ʃ → ʂ → x (postdates old Baltic and Germanic loanwords; as well as the previous on account of blocking assibilation. Per Permic, the retroflex stage may date back quite far)
• s → x / _l (pihlaja. Cf. the late str → sr → F. hr)

Nasal simplification part 2. Note old Germanic loans feeding -ntj-! Probably postdates the previous, given no simplification in *nx (vanha inho etc.)

• n → ∅ / _(t)s (asia rasia nisä osa otsa kusi) (distribution?)

Paradigmatically reverted in cases of *-ntsi ~ *-nte- such as kansi, ponsi; not however in ordinals: kolmas ~ kolmante- (also note Est. kaas vel. sim. - a later reprise per compensatory lengthening? - and Liv. vuontsa - suggesting Gmc. loan origin?)

Results as:

Phonology of late Proto-Finnic

Consonant inventory

	Lab.	Dnt.	Alv.	Vel.
Nasals	m		n
Stops & affricate	p	t	ʦ	k
Fricatives			s	x
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Semivowels	v		j

(I'm marking *w → [ʋ] as /v/ for brevity from now on. This is for practicality only; the change is practically impossible to date.)

Syllable structure (C)V(@, i, U, C)(C) Morpheme-finally, only /t k s m n j/ occured. Word-initial /r/ was rare outside of recent IE loanwords (non-existant in PU? but found in PFU) /#ji #je #vu/ did not occur.

Allowed medial clusters included the following (and possibly more, depending on how many consonantal root forms were in existence yet by this stage):

• /pː pt pʦ tː tk ʦː kː kt kʦ/ (/ʦk/?)
• /mp nt nʦ ŋk/
• /nx/
• /ps ks/ (/kst/?) and perhaps /tx kx(t)/ (if not simplified to /x(t)/ yet; check!)
• /tn km/ (only intermorphemically)
• /sm st sn sl sk xm xt xn xl xr xk/
• just about all approximant + non-approximant combinations
• /lj rj lv rv jv/
• /ntː ŋkː rtː rkː lkː/?
• various CC combinations preceded by Vj, VU or V@

/vj vr vs (vx?)/ are forbidden and metathesize to /jv rv sv (hv?)/ in loans (haiven laiva raiva- raivo, järvi karva tarvas torvi, kasva- rasva; kaivata with analogous gradation?) (The last of these will have to be dated as erlier than *joŋsi → *jousi). (Cf. J. Koivulehto: Pinta ja rasva)

Note also kauha ~ kahva, kiuru ~ kirvinen, kuilu ~ kulju, pälvi ~ S. *pévlë and haava kaava naava < *hawwa *skawwa *fnawwa (before sauva < *sawŋa)

While several later common innovations affect both South Estonian and the remainder of Finnic, pre-Finnic *č is reconstructable in some cases per the former (*kačke- *kačku *kičke- *nočko *pučki *sičkajn)

Vowel inventory
/i iː y yː      u uː /
/e eː   øː      o oː /
/æ æː      a aː      /
/ej ew          oj ow/
/æj æw    aj aw uj   /

/aː æː/ were rare, originally only occuring in about half a dozen roots each. (These new instances are of fuzzy origin, apparently loanwords acquired after the change to */oː eː/?)

/i e A o (u?)/ could occur in non-initial root syllables (plus /ej oj/ due to suffixal j).

Proto-Finnic to Proto-Finnish

[Ca. 2000 BCE to 1000 CE]

Difthong paradigm shift j w → i U / V_{C #} (not really phonetical; required for pre-diphthongal consonants not to gradate) - wait, but they do gradate in some dialects; needs bumping, then

Consonantal suffix and stem-forms

• i → ∅ / VC_, ks_ suffix-finally
• e → ∅ / stem-finally after a coronal

(This change could be much older and is actually more complex, but I don't know what's the latest understanding)

Consonant gradation. These all occur on the general condition that the folloing syllable is closed.

• pː tː tsː kː → pˑ tˑ tsˑ kˑ / {sonorant}_V (the half-long stage can still itself trigger gradation; no gradation is found in Veps or Livonian)
• p t ts s k → b d s z ɡ / {sonorant}_V

(NB: gradation of modern /ht hk/ is analogy-borne)

Suffixal gradation (needs elaboration)

• p t s k → b d z ɡ / V[-STR]_V

Spirantization

• b d ɡ → β ð ɣ / except N_ (may be later - not evident in Votic)
  • ɣ → j~v (in kataja, jalava, kajava etc.)
  • βi → U / _# (3PS -Pi)

Around this time there's also a paradigm shift wrt. /f/ in loanwords: the reflex of initial /f/ changes from /p/ to /v/. This could signify a change of [w] to [ʋ] in the position, but also of [ɸ] to [f] in the loaning languages (or even the onset of Grimm's law)! Medial /f/ does not seem to ever turn to /p/.

Loss of /v/ before labial vowels

• v → ∅ / #_{o u y} (perhaps also: non-initially? kärventää ~ käry, kalvaa ~ kaluta — but late in *hehvo → hieho)

The consonant may have persisted before long vowels, but since a glide was epenthetically added there anyway (see next), there's no way to tell. Compensatory lengthening may have occurred before *u (*wuðʲi → uusi). Shared with Samic, Mordvinic & Mari, but note that this seems to be a late areal change — it is later than the South Finnic change from *o to *ɤ per *wo-tta- "to take" → *vɤtta- → Es. võtma- (however, note the counterexample *wolka → õlg).

Loss of */j/ before /i/ is likely of similar age, but Samic seems inconsistent (due to ē → jē / #_ ? cf. also no medial loss: *velji → veli, ~ *vēljɤ)

V-epenthesis

• ∅ → v / #_{yː øː oː}

Notable exceptions: yö uoma, the former probably homonym avoidance (vyö "belt"), the latter a Samic loan - allowing to date the similar change in Samic as later. Per *voohla → vohla "goat kid" (*voohi → vuohi "goat") this would seem to be the later of the two changes involving initial *v.

Vowel shifts

• oi → o / [-STR] (but reverted back in many, though not all, cases where the -i was morphological)
• Vː → V / _i (Clearly postdates epenthesis: voi ← *vooji. Also imperfects (myi söi toi etc.), obliq plurals (maita puita teitä etc.); keittää (cf. kiehua); possibly nai- (cf. naaras))

Assimilation of many consonant clusters to geminates, etc. (Dating provisional for most, perhaps older.) All of these require a morpheme boundary somewhere in the cluster. A basically equivalent criterion is requiring a preceding unstressed syllable. Of these, /rn pt kt kx tx/ (/kʃ tʃ/?) occurred root-medially, and the first three were retained (though rn → rː may have occurred in aarre; cf. aarni - and kt → tː is required for tytär, which appears to be the only loan with the cluster around this timeframe. Võro has even root-medially pt kt → tː.)

• kt(s) pt(s) → tː(s)
• xk → kː (happens also across word boundaries, precluding the formation of /?/)
• (t)(ː)sn → sː
• kx (tx) → xː
• rn ln → rː lː
• pn tn kn ktn ptn (etc.) → nː (note esp. linna ~ Võ liin, Vo lidna; but vuonna ~ Vo voona, vuona ~ Vo võdna)
• pm tm km (etc.) → mː
• pst tst kst → st
• ks nʦ nt → s s t / _# (jänis etc, kolmas etc, tuhat)

(The consequent obscuring of many inflected forms due to this and the previous change, esp. the essiv, however eventually caused many words to revert back, commonly with vowel insertion. Eg. *sut-na, *laps-na → sunna lassa → sutena lapsena. Note also *pekstä, *pekse- → piestä, piekse-)

Fricativ collapse, part 3

• ʦ → s
• ʦˑ/ː → θˑ/ː (remains gradational; etsi- itse joutsen katso- kitsas lietso- loitsi- kutsu- metsä ratsu otsa paatsama vatsa veitsi virtsa vitsa)
• z → h
• x(ː) → h (a spirantic pronunciation can still be found in coda position)

Shifts involving /h/ (unfinished)

• e → @ / h_ in suffixes
• p k → h / _t (With IE loanwords continuing to feed new /pt kt/, this rule remained active up until to the 20th century.)

Proto-Finnish to Standard Finnish

[Ca. 1000-1900 CE] These changes are, for the most part, only attested in the Finnish-Karelian continuum.

"Flavor": Voiced prenasal stops become geminate nasals, and (around the same time as in a whole lot of other European languages!) long mid vowels become opening diphthongs. Also, the weak grade of geminates coincides with the strong grade of singletons:

• mb nd ŋg → mː nː ŋː
• eː øː oː → ie yø uo
• pˑ tˑ kˑ θˑ → p t k θ

Changes involving /j/

• j → i / C_ suffix-initially

More shifts with /h/

• Vh → hV / {j v n r l}_# (aihe vaihe sauhu venhe unho parha- erhe perhe orhi murhe urho alhainen ylhäinen valhe; löyhä? dialectally regular)
  • dubbelmetathesis: imeh → *imhe → ihme
  • speaking of metathesis, also sn → ns (känsä runsas)
• V → Vː / h_hC in haahka haahti hieho (← *hehvo) hiihtää huuhkaja huuhtoa (regular in Karelian)
  • also several other, irregular _hC cases
• k h → ˣ / _#
• t → ∅ / s_r (ahrain ihra kehrä ohra) (cf. next), then *sr → hr

Pre-sonorant stop vocalization (with an intermediate spirant stage)
Predominantly Germanic loanwords; a few Baltic, and (not necessarily too reliable) Uralic etymologies exists for *kopra *kotva *kupla *nakris *syklä. By the evidence of other Finnic languages, would-be *tl in loanwords is substituted by *kl (eg. *seeθla → *seekla).

• p → U / _S (hauras kauris koura seura taulu teuras vauras äyräs; also note kupla, from a conservativ dialect)
• t remains _{v, j} (katve ketju kotva latva lotja patja patvi vitja)
      → U / _r{A, O} (aura nöyrä peura puuro uuras)
      → @ / _r{i, e} (teeri)
      (any coda examples before i O??)
• k → @ / _j (laaja raaja taaja vaaja)[1]
      → i / {i, e}_S{i, e} (eilen keila leili leiri neilikka peili teili teini tiili) (May have rather occurred in loaning Finland Swedish dialects, except eilen, of unkno'n origin & where Karelian explicitly retains /kl/.)
      → U / {A, O, U}_S (S≠j) (hauli kaula kaura käyrä kyyry myyrä mäyrä naula nauris naura- paula vaula väylä sauna syylä taula uuni vaunu); {i e}_Sa (neula seula siula siuna-)

Spirant loss

• β → v
  • v → ∅ / _UC (aukko aulis auttaa hius keuhko kiukku köykäinen kiusa liueta liukas liukua loukko reuhtoa riuska soukka säyseä tyyssija)
• ið → j / V[-STR]_V
• ð remains V[+STR](X)_
      → l / l_
      → r / r_
      → ∅ / elsewhere
• ɣ → j / C_e
      → v / U_U
      → ? / V1V2_V2 (including the cases of V1=V2; also V2≠U)
      → ∅ / elsewhere
• h → ∅ / V[-STR](X)_V

Subsequent vowel changes in unstressed syllables (unfinished, may need to be meshed with the prev. section)

• AO → Aː, Oː or Uː (seemingly irregularly)
• Ae → Ai
• Ue → eː
• VU → Vː / _#
• iU → Uː
• OU → Oː (kokoontu-; but aitous etc.)

Regressiv assimilation

• ä → a / eC*_C*o (elanto emakko erakko kesanto)

Initial-syllable labialization

• ey → øy (exception: leyhyä)
• i(e) → y(ø) | _(X)(C)Cy (in non-productiv forms) (at least lytty pysty pysy- vyöry-)
• i → y / _væ (jyvä hyvä syvä) (this one is actually older than the others, but fits here better)

The final stages of interdental loss began after or around the time of the creation of the literary language, seen in spellings such as <tz dh>. By standardization it was however practically complete. The standard outcome is largely a spelling pronunciation based on the example of German and Swedish:

• θ(ː) → ts
• ð → d (commonly alveolar)
  • Exceptions: → ∅ in auer muuan rehennellä rehellinen; → l in railo talikko

Most common dialectal variations for the former are t(ː) and ht~t, for the latter r and ∅.

Modern Standard Finnish

Modern Standard Finnish has the following consonant phonemes:

p t    k (ʔ)
b d    ɡ
m n    ŋ
f s (ʃ) h
ʋ l r j

/b ɡ f ʃ/ only occur in loanwords and neologisms. /ʃ/ is rather marginal and usually replaced by /s/. [ʔ] occurs optionally word-initially before a vowel, and between two identical vowels.

The vowels are /i e æ ø y ɑ o u/. Vowel harmony continues to apply to suffixes, however in loanwords and neologisms /æ ø y/ and /ɑ o u/ can co-occur (psyko-, hyla, sekundääri). Examples of /æ/ and /ɑ/ co-occurring remain rare; even the lexicalized compound tällainen is usually pronounced /ˈt̪ælːæ(i)ne̞/. All vowels may occur long at any position of the word; however, (C)VVCC syllables occur only in very recent loans (pointti).

Any difthongs that end in -i/-y/-u and adhere to vowel harmony and the Obligatory Contour Principle are possible, tho in stressed syllables /ey/ is exceedingly rare (due to the change to /øy/; found only in the verb leyhy-) and /iy/ nonexistant.

The following sound changes are commonplace in spoken Standard Finnish:

• n → ∅ / _#
• d → ∅/r in inherited vocabulary
• Va → Vː / unstress'd
• ie yö uo → ii yy uu / _A

Proto-Finnic to Livonian

(OR)

Palatalization 1 (everywhere except in ?Votic, Finnish proper, some Estonian & Karelian dialects; possibly needs splitting)

• t ts s(C) n l r → tʲ tsʲ sʲ(C) nʲ lʲ rʲ / _i

Deaffrication (near universal in Finnic, but note the exception here)

• ts⁽ʲ⁾ → s⁽ʲ⁾ / except n_ (vuontsa)

Common South Finnic changes (Estonian, Võro, Votic)

• e → ɤ / _C(C){a o u}
• ä → a / [-STR] (phonemicizes the prev. - also in Veps. Not evident in Võro, but might be a later reintroduction of harmony)
• h → ∅ / {# C}_ (initially only dialectally in Estonian)
• Vn → Vː / _s (in Livonian only in new loans *kansa, *pensas; in E/Võ/Vo also from *nts, see prev.)

Umlaut

• a ä → ä e / _C*i

Vowel reduction

• V → ə / [-STR] ≠a (*u *i survive in certain suffixes, but never in roots)
• a → ə / [-STR] VC(C)aC(C)_#, also always in verbal stems

Early length

• Vh → Vːɦ / _C (except hj hv?)

Liquid metathesis

• LV → VL / [-sonorant]_ (*atra → *atar, *putro → *putor, etc.) (may need relocation)

Voicing

• p t⁽ʲ⁾ k s⁽ʲ⁾ → b d⁽ʲ⁾ g z⁽ʲ⁾ / when not initial or next to another voiceless segment (yes, final consonants voice too!)

Early glottalization

• (C)VCV → (C)VʔCV

Apocope

• ə → ∅ / _#, VC_CV

Gemination etc.

• C → Cː / ʔ_V
• gj dj lj rj → jg dʲ lʲː rʲː
• dv zv lv rv jv → d z lː rː jː
• Cv → C / elsewh.

Length II / degemination

• VCːa → VːCa / [+sonorant] (preceeds general presonorant lengthening since *a → ō, *o → ūo from here)
• Cː → C / except V_ə in verbs (unless this is a reflex of the infinitiv!?)

Vowel shift 1

• aː au → ɔː ɔu (some new *aː develop in words like *parma → _paarm_ "gadfly")
• eː (øː) oː → iːe (yːø) uːo
• ɤ(ː) → ɨ(ː)

2nd glottalization

• ɦ → ʔ

Sibilants (hard to date)

• (t)sʲ (d)zʲ → (t)ʃ (d)ʒ

Vowel shift 2

• y ø → i e
  • except äy ey → äu eu (may be original)
• V → Vː / _[+sonorant]C(C)a (including diphthongs in -i, eg. *aitta → āita)
• a → aː / VC_
• e o → eː oː / _Ca
• o → oː / _[+sonorant]C#, _i
• eː oː → je wo (= <ie uo>, UPA /ⁱe ᵘo/)
  • wo → vo / #_
  • wo → ʊ / [+bilabial]_
• ɔ(ː) → o(ː) (or just ill-transcribed?)

Notes for other Finnic languages

• cf. Kettunen: Viron kielen äännehistoria, Vatjan kielen äännehistoria, SUST 252: Suomen lähisukukielten luonteenomaisimmat piirteet

• All except Liv.: ks → s / _#
• All except Savonian Finnish ~ Karelian: Vː → V / _h (old per no apocope: eg. Est. rohi, Veps roho)
• Veps ~ Ludic ~ Karelian: ts(ː) → ʧ(ː)
  • Karelian proper: s → ʃ except / i_ (WTF? A 2nd round of depalatalization?), str → tr
  • Ludic & Veps: medial voicing, str → sr → zr
    • Veps proper: final voicing, degemination, s → ʃ / i_, palatalization / _i (viž kuź!), ä ü → a u / [-STR], iu eu → üu öu, loss of vowel length, l → u / V_C, dialectally: ei → iː, j → dʲ / #_
• Estonian & Veps: trimoraic apocope
• Estonian & Votic: o → ɤ / _(C*){i e}, _u, Vː → V / _h, h → ∅ / {n r l}_, loss of ð ɣ, *ee *oo remain (relower'd?)
  • Estonian: jh wh → hj hv / V_, Vi → Ve / _{r v}, akj akR → ai aeR, V → ∅ / VXC_#, high V → mid V / _nonhigh V, ü → i [-STR] (→ u in 3rd+ syllables, or anharmonic all along)
  • Votic: e → ɤ / [-STR] when back-vocalic, k → ʧ / _V[+front], kj → ɟɟ, h → ∅ / #_, st → sː (→ s if grad.), NP → P / V[-STR]_, k p → h / _s (cf. the similar common change _t), s → h / _ʧ, ʧ → s / #ʧVh_